New Vegas: Six
by IamtheAble
Summary: A war brews. The Two-Headed Bear of the West. The Bull of the East. Between the titans stands the Man in the Tower, A snake in a suit and a courier. Victory means to hold all the powers of Old-World and defeat means to go to dust of whichever form of progress that is ushered in... Let the games begin.
1. Enjoy Your Stay

Chapter 1: Enjoy Your Stay

Enjoy Your Stay...

* * *

The sound of a shovel tossing dirt aside is what I woke up to. I was dazed and upon opening my eyes I found that my vision was blurred. Not to mention my killer headache. When I went to rub my head that was when I realized my hands were tied. In a panic, I looked around frantically in the process discovering the three people behind me, two of which were digging a hole in the ground while the over stared stoically out passed the overlook admiring the glowing city in the distance, "What the hell? What's going on?" I mumbled groggily.

The one on the left stopped to look at me before jabbing his partner is the arm, "Look who's waking up." As I attempted to get back on my feet he swiftly kicked me onto my back. Now that they were closer and me visions cleared a little bit I could see that they were Great Khans, the matching leather vests gave it away. One of them got right in my face, just staring at me. I opened my mouth feigning hesitation to look like I was about to say something which gave me time to spit into his eye. He recoiled in disgust while I shot up from the ground. His pal grabbed a hold of me and tried to shove me to ground but he hadn't accounted for any resistance on my part as I easily crashed my forehead into his nose and upper-cutted him in the face with my bound hands. After that I rushed at the smoking man who hadn't even glanced back at us. A strong pair of hands grabbed a hold my jacket before I could reach him and pulled me throw me to the ground, hard. The Khans who's face I spit in reached into his pocket in the fuss to pull out a big buck knife and lunged at me with it. As he brought it to my throat…

"That's enough fellas. She's harmless." The third one called out still not looking back.

"Oh, yeah? Tell that to that poor bastard she wasted back at Primm. Wasn't very harmless to him."

He finally tossed his cigarette down and stomped it out just before he walked over to join our little huddle. He much more nicely dressed then his friends were with a neat checkered suit and well-heeled black shoes, "Alright, she's not in a position to harm you. That better? Still intimidated by the bound pussy cat on her knees? From what I can recall she aimed to please." He had a strange way of speaking. The type of thing you can't just pick up naturally like an actor playing an exaggerated caricature on stage. He turned his head toward me, "How ya feeling?"

"Fuck you."

He chuckled, "Still love that fire hon'. It matches your hair."

"Would you just get it over with." The Khan sporting a ginger-colored mohawk whined, "W-" His boss put a finger up to silence him.

"Maybe Khans kill people without looking 'em in the face, but I ain't a fink, dig?" The whole time he spoke he was staring at this poker chip, this goddamn poker chip. Something about it just fascinated him. But when he said that last part he shoved it into his jacket and kept his eyes on me while his hand fished around for something else, "You made your last delivery kid."

"Kid? Really? Now I'm a fucking kid all the sudden?"

He deliberately ignored me, he clearly had rehearsed this whole pre-murder speech and didn't want me to throw a wrench in his works, "Really, I'm sorry ya got twisted up in this scene." Now he had pulled out a pistol. It was… Beautiful. Obviously, that was one of the last things I should have been thinking about but it was hard to not notice. The floral and ivy engravement with a nickel finish was eye-catching but it was the handle that really sold it. A pearl grip with some saint painstakingly painted on. I could tell how proud of it he was due to how slowly he took it out, "From where you're kneeling this may seem like an 18 karat run of bad luck. Truth is…" I was now staring down the end of his barrel, "...The game was rigged from the start."

"I don't care if I have to wait for you in hell. Your ass is mine Be-" He didn't let me finish. Time seemed to slow down long enough for me to think, "All this for a fucking poker chip?" Before the bullet struck and my world turned into darkness.

* * *

The same as it turned to darkness it stayed in darkness. No feeling, no sight, no smell. Nothing. Nothing except sound rippling through the void.

" _Amy, what did I just say?"_

" _Don't give them a chance to fight back."_

" _Good. Why not?"_

" _Because that's an unnecessary risk."_

" _And what kind of risks do we never take?"_

" _The unnecessary ones."_

" _Why?"_

" _Because they will get me killed."_

" _Good girl. Alright, get to it."_

I had a… It was like I had jumped from one area to another, like the atmosphere had changed drastically.

" _You have my attention. A very hard thing to acquire. I suggest you do your best to keep it."_

" _Did you kill-"_

" _Yes."_

" _Are you going to kill me?"_

" _I admit that I actually had an even worse fate in store for you but I know see that it would be a waste of potential talent. Kill him, without hesitation. Only then will I be convinced I have use for you."_

Feeling. I had an actual feeling now. It felt as though I were being pushed through this darkness by a strong wind. Even though I could see no difference I could not shake the feeling like I was somewhere else.

" _Please! Don't do this~"_

" _And why the fuck not? You have a family or something?"_

" _Yes. Please I-"_

" _Oh, right I don't care. The boss gave an order and I'm following it. You made your bed and now you get to lie in it."_

I could smell now. The aroma of… Wood? Wood shavings more like. And antiseptic. Wait, I think I could see something. Like a speck of light at the center of vision, it was expanding and expanding until I could make out shapes in it. Shapes and colors and they were moving! The light had filled my vision, thrusting me into a different environment. One with objects and all my senses were being filled up with subtle scents and sounds. Wind blowing, the floor creaking, an old tune playing faintly in the background. A ceiling fan stared back at me pushing a gentle breeze across my face and emitting a faint hum. Holy shit. I was alive!

I shot up from my bed the very instant I had made the connection only to find myself flying off and onto the floor. Of all the sensations I felt at that time, the pain was the dominant one. A pair of hands grasped me giving me a slight panic but, being in the state I was in, wasn't in the position to start swinging without seeing who it was, "Easy there. Easy." He suggested in a calm, warm voice. He helped me back onto the bed allowing me to get a look at him. He was an old, bald man with an admittedly great silvery mustache. Any apprehension I had was quickly quelled when our eyes met. There was an unmistakable gentleness to them that gave off this peaceful aura, "So you're awake. How 'bout that."

In the struggle to get up, I hadn't had time to register the dull pain weighing down on my head, "Who are you? Where am I?"

"My names Doc Mitchells. Welcome to Goodsprings." I went to get up again albeit more slowly this time only to have him lower me on to my back again, "Just relax now. You've been out for quite a while. Give yourself some time to get yer bearings."

" _The game was rigged from the start…"_ Those words echoed in my head. I remembered what happened. Partially at least. He was wearing a checkered suit and he took something from me. What was it? It was important I knew that much.

"How's about you tell me the last thing you remember before your incident." He suggested while reaching for a nearby clipboard.

"The last thing? I woke up with my hands tied. I think there was two. Yeah, two Great Khans. They had this boss…" He jotted my every word down as I recited my story, "...That's when he pulled the trigger."

He chuckled to himself, "You know, you might just be the luckiest son of a gun I have ever met. You survived getting shot in the head not once but twice. I can't even begin to tell you the odds of getting out of that without serious brain damage at the least."

One part of that sentence, in particular, caught my attention, "Wait, back up doc. Did you just say in the head?"

"That I did, miss. For what it's worth you're fine. In fact, you're in darn near perfect health all things considered." He walked over to a metal desk a sifted through a pile of papers casually humming a song all the while. Listening in I could just about make it out, "Let's ride into the sunset together. Stirrup to stirrup, side by side." I then noticed that it was the exact same song that was playing in the background. I don't know why that was the thing that was on my mind at the moment. The man just liked the song. He must have eventually found what he was looking for because the ruffling stopped, "Here we are." The good doctor pulled up an old wooden chair with a stack of papers he held close to his chest, "Now I'm gonna run a few psychological tests on you."

"Why?"

"Your vitals are good but that don't mean those bullets haven't left you nuttier than a Bighorner dropping. It's just a formality really. I'm gonna say a word and I want you to say the first that comes to mind. Dog."

"Cat."

"House."

"Locked."

"Night."

"Knife."

"Bandit."

"Shoot."

"Light."

"Clear."

"Mother."

"Who?"

"Alright, good. Now I'm gonna make a statement and I want you to say whether or not you agree with them." The Doc cleared his throat, "Conflict just ain't in my nature."

"Disagree."

"I ain't given to relying on others for support."

"Umm, No comment."

"I'm always fixing to be the center of attention."

"Agree."

"I'm slow to embrace new ideas."

"Disagree."

"I charge in to face my ideas head-on."

"Agree."

"Alright, you did a great job."

"Not like I could have failed."

"Trust me, you can. It's just that the folk that do end up dead in the middle of the desert somewhere."

"Just like I almost did."

"Exactly like that" He chuckled, "You never did say your name."

"Shit, my bad. Amelia, Amelia Hirst to be formal."

He hopped up from his chair and made his way to my bed sticking his hand out, "I think you might be able to stand up now. Just take it slowly" I accepted his hand and pulled myself off the bed, slowly like he said. My knees did wobble a little bit but I managed to keep my balance in the end, "Come on I'll show you out."

As the exit to the outside world came within reach Doc Mitchells dug through a leather bag on the ground and tossed me my old leather jacket and ranchers boots. I quickly threw the jacket over my white tank top and rolled up jeans so that I could slip into the boots, "Looks like you kept all my stuff for me."

"I didn't have any use for it and it would have been wrong to pawn it without knowing if it's owner was gonna wake up and miss it." He explained as he handed me an old combat knife and a 9mm pistol. I found It to have 20 rounds upon checking, "Also I found this in your jacket," I was handed a folded piece of paper, "I thought it might have been able to help me find a next of kin but that wasn't the case." I unfolded it to see if it was important.

 _Deliver the package at the north entrance to the Vegas Strip, by way of Freeside. An agent of the recipient will meet you at the checkpoint, take possession of the package, and pay for the delivery. Bring the payment to Johnson Nash at the Mojave Express agency in Primm._

 _Bonus on completion: 250 caps._

 _MANIFEST_

 _This package contains:_

 _One (1) Oversized Poker Chip, composed of Platinum_

 _CONTRACT PENALTIES_

 _You, Amelia Hirst, are an authorized agent of the Mojave Express Package until the delivery is complete and payment has been processed, contractually obligated to complete this transaction and materially responsible for any malfeasance or loss. Failure to deliver to the proper recipient may result in forfeiture of your advance and bonus, criminal charges, and/or pursuit by mercenary reclamation teams. The Mojave Express is not responsible for any injury or loss of life you experience as a result of said reclamation efforts._

"Damn, nothing good. Doc, you've done a lot for me. Way more than I'll probably ever be able to repay you for but could you do me one more favor?"

"I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm."

"The Hippocratic Oath, eh?"

"Ha! no one ever gets that one. What do ya need?"

"Do you have any clue where the guy that shot me ran off to? I have a score to settle." I kept replaying him shooting me in my head over and over and over again. Not to say that him shooting me in the head wasn't cause enough for me to kill him but I also couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to it. I think I knew him and I know I wanted to know what exactly I got 'Caught up in'.

"I wish I did, miss. If anybody saw him it would be Victor, that old cowboy robot wheeling his way around town. He's the one who brought you in after you got shot in the first place."

I breathed a sigh of relief. At least I had something to go off of, "Thanks for, everything Doc. Really, I owe you my life."

"I'll refer you back to the Oath. Before you go take this." He reached back into his leather bag and pulled out a wrist-mounted computer, "Know what this is?"

"Yeah, a Pip-Boy 3000. Are you seriously about to give that to me?"

"I am. Ain't much use to me now, but you might want such a thing, after what you been through. I know what it's like, having something taken from you." His expression dropped for only a second but in that second I saw loneliness and regret in his eyes. But then he went right back to his gentle self, "Good luck with finding that man Mrs. Hirst. Just remember to dig two graves." He didn't wait for me to reply before walking away into another room. Just before I opened that door I could hear him turn that song up. And I could still hear him humming the lyrics.

My vision was flooded with natural light for the first time in at least several days making me feel like I had been blinded. When my eyes adjusted a small town was revealed to me with various folks handling Bighorners and pushing wagons around, "A cowtown? Ain't that fancy." I looked around for any sign of a 'Cowboy robot' with no luck. With a kick and the dirt I walked forward with no particular aim. As I wandered around the town a few of the ranchers shot me looks in amazement. I guess in a small town getting a bullet or two in the head and surviving is a good way to gain some notoriety.

The place was pleasant enough, unusually quiet but that was part of the charm. A nice peaceful place to settle down. A building slightly larger than the others caught my eye. Prospectors Saloon read the sign bolted across the wall.

After reading that sign I started hearing echoes, faint ones, " _Trust me, sweetheart, I'm a man of means. You'll never wanna get up from where I'm takin' ya."_

" _You think the bars still open."_

" _NO!"_

" _You sure?"_

" _Just my own little mix."_

" _Jesus what is that?!"_

I quickly snapped out it. Rather than dwelling on the why of it I pressed on towards the bar. An old, heavily bearded man sat in the shade of the building smoking a cigar who I intended to simply pass up had other plans, "Hey, ain't you the local spectacle?" He inquired in a low, gruff voice.

"I guess I am. So what does that make you?"

"Easy Pete's the name. Used to be a prospector till I decided to settle here to get away from the NCR. Now I just take it easy and help with Bighorners from time to time. I guess that makes me the local old man though I imagine soon enough that'll be Doc Mitches territory."

I leaned against a wall next to him, "Mind telling me about this place?"

"Goodsprings is small, independent town. We're peaceful folk. You don't try us and we don't try you. That said, when someone like you rolls into town people get curious. You got the interest of a certain Sunny Smiles for one thing."

"Who's that if I might ask?"

"Oh, you'll see her when she's around. I'm certain of it."

"No offense old man but I don't plan on sticking around for long. Speaking of which, you know anything about the guy that drilled my head?"

"Not much, the guy in the in the fancy get-up seemed to be calling the shots. Others around town might know more."

"Well thanks anyway." I said as I kicked off the wall and headed to the entrance of the bar.

"Welcome." Easy Pete replied.

The interior of the saloon greeted me with the audible war crime that is 'Johnny Guitar' and the snarling of a territorial dog. I instinctively whipped out my pistol, "Hang on a sec'!" A woman quickly stood from her seat to step between me and the animal. She was very young, couldn't have been more than 18. She was well built with tan skin and she wore a set of leather armor that had the hide of Gecko stretched over the back., "Cheyenne stay." She firmly commanded which contrasted with the remarkably bright smile she wore even as she stared her dog down. Without an iota of protest, the dog sat in silence, "Don't worry about her. Cheyenne only bites when I tell her to. You must be the local cadaver. Pleasure to meet you, I go by Sunny Smiles."

"Amelia, is there any other cute nicknames you folk thought up for me or am I gonna remain the local cadaver for the foreseeable future?"

"It's a quiet town. Cute nicknames and getting excited over things most town's see on a daily basis like a stranger coming in and getting shot is just about all we have going for us. So when something most town's never seen happen like getting shot in the head and surviving you can expect an instant celebrity status to come with your scars." She elucidated as she walked over to a nearby Sunset Sarsaparilla vending machine giving it two hard knocks causing it to drop as many bottles of the above-mentioned drink.

She tossed me one which I caught, "Thanks, so what do you do around here?"

"I'm kind of the sheriff for lack of a better word though I don't have any juridical authority nor do I spend most of my time chasing ruffians. Really all I do is keep the Geckos at bay and make sure folk don't get hurt."

"Sounds like you know how to handle yourself."

"Better than the anybody else around these parts." She stated, shrugging, "How about you?"

"How about I what?"

"How are you at fighting?"

"I'm better than everybody I've killed." That seemed to have piqued her interest if the way her eyes lit up were any indicator.

"How's about you follow me outback," Sunny suggested and so I did. On the way outside she downed her sarsaparilla in one big gulp. There was a fence with glass bottles of different types lined up, one per post. Sunny pulled a rifle out of the holster at her back and, without taking even a second to aim shattered all a bottle with a quick pull of the trigger, "So, where ya from?" Bam! Another one down.

"Good question. Wish I had the answer. Spent most of my life drifting. I presume you're from here." She knocked down three other bottles while I answered her question.

"Born and raised." Bang! Two more were down and she was out of bottles. Six more bottles quickly took their place and I found myself now bearing the rifle, "Let's see how fast you can knock 'em down."

A smirk crept up on my face, I took this as an opportunity to show off. After checking the chamber for ammo I made my move. In a blur, I put one bottle down after another with the only delay being me having to pull the bolt back, "How was that?" She gave me an impressed whistle before snatching the rifle up.

"Oh, wow! Would ya look at that! The stiff can knock over a few bottles!" An obnoxious, deep voice called out.

"Oh no." Sunny groaned, smile still present.

Two men showed up behind us. Both seemed very young, like seventeen to eighteen young. Pig-faced little bastards from the look of them and their average build and greasy long hair didn't help their appearance. Still, they seemed pleased with themselves what with the shit-eating grins, "Sammy! Did you finally find a friend?" The one on the left condescendingly asked.

"You and I and everyone else in town know that's not my name, Kurtis. What do you want?"

"Nothin', we just heard that the stiff woke up and knew you'd jump at any opportunity to make people think you're some tough girl." The one on the left who answered was dressed in a pair of jeans and a basic t-shirt.

"Hey, first of all, I have a name and if you wanna keep your tongue you'll start using it. Amelia, by the way. Second of all, it's hard to fake being able to hit three targets in the time it would take you guys to get your sights on one."

"Pfft, good one sti-" He caught my glare and quickly stopped what he was about to say, "Yeah, I bet you we could hit a crow from a mile away." Said the one on the right wearing a loose fitting flannel.

"Really? Prove it." I scanned the environment for anything that would prove as a suitable test settling on a small rock on top of a large boulder after my discovery I took Sunny's rifle and tossed it to the flannel-wearing who caught it, albeit clumsily, "See that rock over there?" I pointed it out, "You have three shots each. Me and Sunny get one. Sound doable?"

Kuris looked at his brother thinly masking his nervousness, "Ralph, wanna take this one?"

Ralph was slightly taken aback but snatched the rifle up regardless, "No problem." He sheepishly gripped the stock of the weapon before amateurishly looking down the sights, "Bam." Then he missed. He clearly hadn't accounted for missing due to how slowly he decided to pull the bolt back. He fired and missed again but was quicker on the bolt this time and even quicker to miss. He roughly thrust it into Kurtis' chest for him to use. He faired just as well.

"Man, whatever. I'd like to see you try, Sammy." Sunny pulled it away from as the nickname he gave her slithered out of his mouth.

She brought the rifle to bear and closed one of her eyes, lined up the shoot and with a twitch of her finger the brass thundered out of the barrel propelling it into the rock we had our attention fixated on. Her ever-present smile morphed into a self-satisfied grin, "How was that?"

"Now hang on a sec, my turn." I aimed at a burnt out lightbulb hanging over someone's porch, "Light bulb, ready, aim, fire." And just like that, it found it self shattered on the wooden floor beneath it.

The twins were dumbfounded, "T-that's some bullshit! You probably rigged this you dumb fucking stiff!" In a flash, the point of my knife was pressed up against his throat.

"Come on now Kurtis. I said to start using my name."

"Get away from him you bitch!" I headbutted Kurtis to get him out of the way just in time to catch Ralphs right hook the positioned the knife on the right flank of his lower abdomen not deep to cause any damage but just enough to bring a small trickle of blood.

"What's my name?"

"Amelia." Ralph muttered.

"How about you and your fellow dipshit go somewhere that isn't here." I let his arm go and pulled the blade away making him let out a loud exhale. He looked like he wanted to try me again but instead him and his brother swiftly walked away.

When I turned around Sunny Smiles was giving me this wide-eyed stare, "Hot damn! You showed them!"

I chuckled in response, "It was really nothing. You could have kicked their asses with a similar amount of ease. Which sort of begs the question of why don't you? I got the impression they bug you pretty regularly."

"You're not wrong. But it really isn't worth it, they just want folk to think their tough."

"Have you told them that a good way to do that is to take steps that would lead to actually being tough?"

"Course, but the most combative work you can find around here is hunting Geckos and if they do that they'd have to acknowledge that they can't shoot the broadside of a barn and to correct that they'd have to get someone to teach them. And I'm only one around who could which is just a whole other can of worms. Besides, them being loudmouths isn't really hurting anyone. Though they do drive Trudy nuts."

"Who's Trudy?"

"Tell you what. I'm going to go and do some Gecko population control so if you have any more questions you can come and help me out."

I thought over her proposition. On one hand I had to start looking for info on 'Be-' but on the other she was already acting as my tour guide and if anybody knew anything, or could point me in the direction of someone who knows anything it's her, "If I bag a few can we discuss me getting some caps?"

"I don't really see much to discuss, hows a five a head sound?"

"Sounds fair. Let's get going."

* * *

The small reptilian creature poked its head above the rock it was crouched behind, somehow displaying curiosity with its pure orange eyes. It tilted its head with a piqued interest before waddling over the animal's body on its stubby little feet and sniffed at it before opening its mouth to reveal rows of pointy little teeth and hovered over the neck of the downed beast. The back of its head exploded into a red mist exposing the demolished brains and the scaly creature collapsed without making a sound.

"Good girl Cheyenne! You can get up now!" The dog got up from its position on its side and ran back over to Sunny Smiles, not before taking a chunk of the Gecko meat with her, "Thanks for bearing with me there. Took us me awhile to teach her to stay still during that and now I actually get to show it off."

"Hey, I'm always up for a little entertainment. You seem to have a good handle on that dog." I looked over at the distance and spotted a few more Geckos. One shot and one was dead, "But are these things really causing you that much trouble?"

Then she shot one. We were letting them close the distance a little just for the sport of it so we could just about see the way their mouths hung wide upon as they sprinted in our direction, "Any pest can be a threat if you have enough of them and someone has to make sure there aren't enough of them. More importantly..." She paused so that she wouldn't have to speak over the sound of my rifle fire, "Little buggers have started messing with our water source and attacking folk who are trying to get a drink. Gecko bites are just about the most common thing Doc Mitch has been dealing with for a long time. Honestly, I think you were just the break in routine he needed, he's a simple man but even he can't do the same thing day in and day out without getting a little stir crazy."

Bang! Only three remained, "That reminds me, do you know anything about the guys who deep-sixed me?"

"Sorry, can't help you on that one. Why do want to find them anyway?" Bang!

"What? Why wouldn't I?"Bang!

She turned to face me and rested her rifle on the ground like a cane. The final Gecko neared her only to have its hopes dashed by Cheyenne who pounced and began to violently maul it, "Because you were shot in the head and lived. If that happened to me, if I was given that kind of second chance the last thing I would do is go searching for the guy who managed to put me down in the first place. What for? To prove something? To prove to the guy who thinks I'm dead that I'm not? Personally, I think remaining alive and having a good time would be the best way getting back at him."

"Listen, I'm not the type of person who can just walk around knowing that someone, somewhere potentially close thinks they won. That guy thinks he can just kill me and get away with it like I never mattered in the first place and if I turn the other cheek he's right. After that people are gonna walk over me forever because I didn't have the balls to take back what's mine. That guy took my pride and I'll be damned if I'm gonna let him keep it." What I didn't mention is that I had to know why. There's more to this then him wanting something from me and then also wanted to shoot me. I knew his name, but I can't remember it and I can't remember any of what they were referencing. All I remember was that chip and I intend to know more.

She wasn't entirely won over by my argument but she did seem to at least understand a little more, "Well I wish you luck. So, how many Geckos does that make now?"

As I began to answer a shrill scream echoed through the air and in an instant Sunny and Cheyenne bolted in the direction it came from. I caught up with them shortly after they came to a halt to see a scrawny blonde woman wielding nothing but a rusty meat cleaver cornered by half a dozen Geckos slowly prowling up to her. The shirt she wore was scrapped to all hell revealing several bloody scratches matching the similar state of her long pink skirt.

Almost as though we had coordinated it me and Sunny raised our weapons at the exact same time while Cheyenne circled around the group to flank them. We blew away the two nearest to the girl just as one of them lunged at her. Two Geckos further back in the group turned to face us but Cheyenne was swift in catching their attention, and one of their throats. Unfortunately our attack startled the two upfront into running at the girl with intent to kill. The transition from slow claw to rapid sprint was sudden enough to almost make me miss, almost. Sunny, on the other hand, did in fact miss. As her mark was in the air right between the ground and the young woman's throat I dropped the rifle and swiftly unholstered my pistol and put a round through the oversized lizard's head. Its limp corpse sailed into the women's chest knocking her off her feet.

Before celebrations, we were able to relax a whine that could have only been a dogs was heard. In the process of taking two out one of the Gecko's managed to give Cheyenne a nasty gash on her side. She and the scaly bastard circled each other and before I was able to move in and finish it off she leaped at it and ravenously dug further and further into its soft belly, of course to its ear-piercing protest. Apparently, the dog found it equally as irritating because she pulled her mouth out of its stomach to rip out its throat to render the Gecko's cries of pain to pathetic gurgles before diving right back into its gut.

After snapping out of the shock she felt from not being dead she broke into a stumbling run towards me. I met her a quarter of the way by walking to her. She took me into a massive hug, "Oh my goodness thank you so much! I-I was l-l look I was-"

I put a finger up to silence her and broke out of her embrace, "Just relax. What were you doing this far out of town? Watering holes back aways."

"I w-was. I-I-"

Sunny came up from behind me, "Her older brother went missing. It's been a few days and we haven't found his body so she thinks Gecko's killed him and dragged him to a cave somewhere."

"Only a few day and you think he's dead?"

"People don't go missing around here, Amelia. Last one to go missing for more than two was found rotting in a bush at the edge of town. Shawn's been gone for the five.

I looked at the girl for a moment, "So you came out here, way further than the town's best hunter even goes further than where your brother, whom you think is dead, went. And you did all this without somebody to watch you back or without informing anyone. And you did all this without a gun. Why?"

"I just that… I could sneak around them."

"That was very unintelligent of you. Go home, straight home. No scenic routes or some such shit." I turned around to leave her to it only to be stopped by a soft pair of hands on my shoulder.

"Wait! I have to find my brother! I can't just leave him like that!"

"You already know he's dead. You have a mom or dad?" She nodded, "Stay home with them. Don't get yourself killed to find a gnawed on corpse."

"But I think I know where he is! He's in their nest!"

"Wait did you say nest?" Sunny asked shoving me aside.

"Yeah, it was a cave full of eggs and had some bones strewn about. I smelled what I think was flesh but before I could go any further Geckos came pouring out the woodwork. I managed to hack a few of them but, you know the rest."

"Are you sure that this is the nest? Because if you are you gotta tell me where it is right now."

"It's just up that way." The girl pointed in the direction opposite of where she was when we found her.

I think I missed a step because the very instant after her finger indicated where to go Sunny was rushing there with her pet in toe, "Goddamnit. Go home kid!" I shouted while trying to catch up with my remarkably active tour guide, "Would you hold on a sec!"

"No time, I've been looking for this nest for ages now and I ain't waiting for a second longer. These lizard bastards have been causing folk around here all kinds of trouble."

"You know this is not what I had in mind when you asked me to follow you outside…"

"You and me both."

After a lot of unnecessary running we did finally come across the cave that girl told us about. It was completely ordinary looking. No creepy signs or paintings outside warning trespassers to stay away. Completely throwing caution to the wind Sunny went to enter, "Now hang on a goddamn minute. You haven't checked your ammo, you haven't unlatched your knife sheath and you haven't even looked at your dog's wound. The cave isn't gonna magically gonna sink into the ground because you gave a second of consideration into what's in there."

An angry glare was shot my way before Cheyenne gave a sad whimper catching Sunny's attention. She looked down with some embarrassment on display then she knelt next to the dog to address the wound, "I'm sorry… I just… Never mind."

"I get it. It's your job to take care of these people and this reproducing threat is making you fail time and time again. Now that you see a way to prevent it from cropping again you're in a hurry to hop to it. Still, you're gonna get yourself killed running full steam ahead like that."

"Yeah, thanks." With the way she kind of brushed me off, I couldn't help but think that there was more. I didn't press her though. I'm not a therapist. Sunny took up her sleeve in her teeth and ripped it down almost down to her armpit and tied it all the way around Cheyenne's body taking care to make sure it covered the wound, "Cheyenne, stay."

"Now check your ammo."

"I know." after reloading the rifle she made a big exaggerated show of unlatching the sheath on her boot.

"There ya go."

"Now can I go?"

"Lead the way."

The cave was quiet, I dare say it was too quiet. Sunny walked ahead of me with a fair bit more purpose than from what I've seen from her before. If I didn't know better I'd say she was on a personal mission here. Still, I didn't press her. We had been wandering the cave for what felt like a really long time yet there were no eggs nor any smell of death though I have my doubts that the girl would have any clue what that would smell like.

"Did you hear that?" Sunny whispered.

"Hear what?"

"Shhh…" We listened in real close.

"Kill me…" It was faint, very faint so I closed my eyes to concentrate more, "Kill me… Please…" I stayed just to make sure I was hearing correctly, "Kill me! Just kill me!" That was shortly followed by a roar. No surprise from Sunny, she ran in the direction of those fervent pleas for death came from.

"I fucking hate charity work." I grumbled before running after her. Along the way, I started passing up the Gecko eggs that girl was talking about, quite a few of them too. If this wasn't the nest I'd hate to see where they were coming from. I rounded a corner just about bumping into Sunny who watched on in what I do believe was horror.

A young man, about Sunny's age, lied against a cave wall. He was bloody all over and his clothes were torn in every area and he even had an arm missing. Also, being caked with sand and dirt and… Slime? Saliva? Whatever it was it couldn't have been healthy too when it was seeping into his wounds.

He wasn't the center of our attention. Or at least not mine. There was a Gecko in the center of the cave chamber. The reason I didn't just shoot it and be done with it was that it was about five times the size of a normal one and while they were light greenish was more like a dark purple. And I could see smoke leaking out between its teeth. It was a Fire Gecko. The biggest one I've ever seen at that.

It slowly and strolled up to the injured man, the smoke from its mouth becoming thicker and darker. It opened up wide and stuck its mouth right in his face… Breathed in deep and…

"Shawn!" Sunny screamed a lot louder than a girl her size ought to be able to. The Fire Gecko turned its head in unison with its victim just in time to see Sunny fire a round right between its eyes. Unfortunately, it's hide was to thick for the bullet to punch through. Sunny clearly hadn't counted on that because she didn't move even when the beast breathed indicating what was gonna happen next. That or she wasn't aware of what was gonna happen. That thought is what made me do what I did next.

"Fucking move!" I shouted as I tackled her out of the way of the fireball the blackened the wall she stood in front of. I dragged her behind a natural pillar to hide from any more attacks of the fiery nature.

"W-what is that?"

"That'd be a Fire Gecko, bigger, smarter and sporting more firepower than your average, run-the-mill Gecko. A particularly large one at that." I explained.

"How do we kill it?"

"You shoot and stab and it until it dies and try to make sure that it doesn't burn you alive. Better brace yourself because we have maybe a minute before it smells you past the scent of smoke and your friend's bloody stumps." It let out a low roar and started charging in on our position with its mouth agape, "Shit, spoke to late!" I ran around the side opposite of where it was approaching from to get the drop. Sunny stayed on the floor where I dragged her to not knowing what to do. When the Gecko saw her it stomped where she was but she rolled out of the way just in time and fired a round into its eye. The massive lizard roared in pain before breathing a nice big wave of fire where it saw her last but she had already started running to Shawn.

I jumped on it's back and stuck my knife into the top of its head, only to be knocked off and onto my back, ' _Shit, that usually works.'_ I thought to myself. Knowing what was going to happen the moment it turned around my pistol instinctively found its way into my hand and fired two rounds into the back of its head. Still nothing but some recoiling on its end. Without even thinking I ran to the nearest cover I could find. This time it was a Bighorner corpse that has had a massive chunk of flesh ripped out its belly. I laid prone next to it and peeked over to see it running after Sunny who was crouched next Shawn. That thing ran way faster than its smaller brothers. I unshouldered my rifle and lined up a shot right at its knees, "Bullseye." I hit my mark sending it to its knees but in return it sent a fireball sailing into my meat shield pretty much instantly grilling it.

Sunny finally realized that her friend didn't mean shit if she was dead so she started firing as fast as she could pull the bolt back so I joined her in that activity. Tough as the fucker was it wasn't able to shrug off a dozen rounds rocketing into its body. It doubled over and bent to the ground and it looked like it was just about over. Just as well to since I had run out of rifle rounds and had switched to my sidearm. However, since this particular Fire Gecko was just chop full of surprises it did something I've never seen one of them do before. Maybe because they normally died when I stuck a knife into the top of its head. It shot up and breathed a big roaring ring of fire around itself so hot it made me cover my eyes for a moment. As the fire quickly burnt out on the rocks the Fire Gecko was gone.

"Where'd it go?" Sunny asked across the chamber.

"I have no clue. I've never seen anything like that before." It was just gone. No sign of its existence.

"Well, it can't have just disappeared. There's no way." As if on queue, we heard Cheyenne's bark echo inside the cave. Call me crazy, but the fact that the Gecko disappeared and the very next thing that happens is the most obedient dog I've ever seen starts to complain makes me a bit nervous. I ran to exit. Normal Fire Geckos are fiercely territorial and If we drove that monster version from its home then it will probably try to claim new territory and that means killing everything it finds there. And it just so happens that the closest territory was Goodsprings and I owe the Doc something of a debt. Besides, it still had my knife and I didn't want to have to find another.

I didn't bother to see if Sunny was following me because apparently saving someone who's probably gonna die of his wounds anyway is more important than saving two perfectly good ones with hers numbering among them.

Cheyenne was backed up against a boulder with a decent amount of new scratches to her name and the several spots around us showed signs of being lit aflame. The Fire Gecko was toying with her at this point as they're want to do, which is probably why Shawn was still alive, but it had enough due to its bullet wounds pissing it off. I ran at it as fast as I could but not enough to stop Cheyenne from getting an unhealthy dose of fire catching it on its side. She let out a painful yelp and fell to the ground and didn't get up. The monster went for the kill. I jumped on it's back again, taking hold of the knife to avoid being bucked off and took my pistol with five bullets left, pressed it into the nape of its neck as far as it would go and fired three shots. It went down at the second. After our hot-blooded buddy collapsed to the ground I pulled my knife out its head and stabbed it in its throat about a dozen times in the throat to be sure.

"Hot damn you were tough." I quipped to myself. I then went over to Cheyenne to see how she was fairing and to my genuine surprise she was breathing, "You don't give up do you." I took her up into my arms and started the walk over back to Goodsprings, "Fuck, your heavy. I sure hope the Doc is also a veterinarian."

As I was walking I heard some grunting coming from the cave, "How is she?" Sunny asked while helping Shawn walk with his arm around her shoulder.

"I'll let the Doc tell us that. How's your friend?"

She looked at his barely conscious face worried, "I-I don't know."

"I guess we'll see. Maybe when we find out you can tell me why him getting injured makes your brain stop working and makes you completely forget there's a fire-breathing monster trying to stir fry somebody ten feet away from you."

She didn't reply. Instead, she just walked off ahead of me towards Goodsprings.

* * *

Doc Mitchell had looked over some notes and paced back and forth while I and Sunny sat quietly in some chairs across from his two new patients, "Cheyenne will make a full recovery though she will need a skin graft on her side and the boy… Well, he's a big if. It'll would take the grace of God and regardless he's losing a leg along with the arm he's already missing. Also, don't be surprised if he's lacking vision in his left eye." The Doc explained in his usual casual yet sympathetic tone, "This will take awhile for both of them so I can't have you staying here worried sick while I work so I'll have to ask you to leave, go get a drink, you've earned it. That said, Sunny if you'd like to say a few words to either of them go ahead."

She shook her head fervently, "No, I'll talk to him when he wakes up." Her usual smile was still there and bright as ever but her eyes said something else. She was scared, "Come on, we got so busy with all that excitement I forgot to show you the rest of the town.

"And I still don't know where the guy who shot me is." I grumbled.

"Well, if anyone knows it would probably be Trudy. She's sort of the town mom."

"Take me to your leader then." She hopped off of her chair and obliged my request. As we neared the door a young man of about twenty burst through the door.

"Oh, thank god I found you. Sunny, we need your help."

"With what-" He grabbed her by her arm and drug her with him. I followed since she was still my tour guide, a pretty bad one but the one I had nonetheless.

As we neared the Prospectors Saloon I heard some muffled yelling emitting from its walls. After the doors flung open it was clear as day, "-Sses! What the hell's the matter with you?! Did your mom drop you on the heads?! Did the Bighorners kick ya both in the head?! I didn't raise you to be doing dumb stuff like you stupid so-"

"Trudy! What's wrong." Sunny asked.

"These two are what's wrong…" The woman named Trudy explained. She was middle-aged with some laugh lines and crow's feet developing and short black hair with some grays sprinkled in. Trudy stepped aside revealing Kurtis and Ralph sat down on bar stools with their heads down and red marks where I'm certain Trudy smacked them.

"I know they are. What else is new?"

"Not the time, Sunny." She turned her head to look at the pair of dumbasses, "Go on, bring out your 'prize'."

After some hesitation, Ralph got up and went to this little side room in the bar. After a minute or so with some light shuffling that I could hear he came back. With him, he had a skinny black man with a buzz cut and some bruises and cuts on his face and he wore a dark blue jacket over a lighter button-up shirt and a pair of gray slacks. The important part of him, however, was the duct tape binding his wrists and arms together and behind his back with another strip over his mouth.

"Oh, they didn't…" Sunny gasped.

"Oh, they did…"

"What did they do?" I inquired. Suddenly everyone in the room looked at me like I was a hobo who sat at a made-mans table in Reno.

"Aren't you that girl Mitch was working on?" Trudy quizzed as she pulled a chair up.

"She is, but don't worry Trudy she's okay. In fact, I think she saved about four lives today including my own.

"Well, miss…"

"Amelia," I stated matter of factly.

"Amelia, these two idgits right here caught this man snooping around our town and in a fit of stupidity and misplaced confidence they decided to both attack him and tie him up because they think parading a Powder Ganger around town was not only not gonna bite them and everyone here in their cabooses but also that we would _praise_ them."

"I think I'm missing a step here. What's a Powder Ganger?"

"Powder Gangers are the group of the escaped convicts that we have been having trouble with for awhile now and this is probably going to be what makes them start getting violent. Joe Cobb's been threatening to do that for days now."

"Is Joe Cobb their leader?"

"Yep, bad trouble." Easy Pete stated in the background. I don't think anybody even knew he was there with the way they turned their heads to him.

"Relax, Trudy. He's not gonna attack a whole town of people because one of his boys got a little roughed up."

The Ganger that the twins had captured managed to shake his tape from his face, "You wish bitch! When my brother finds out about this you'll wish he'd just shoot you."

Trudy slowly looked away from the bound man and to Kurtis and Ralph, "You captured the brother of the man who has been threatening us for weeks? The brother of the man who leads a violent gang of men who broke out of a prison run by military boys? The brother of a man who probably killed dozens of people just like us way before he came to the Mojave and is leading a bunch of men who have done the exact same thing?"

Even Easy Pete stood up in shock. Yet he managed to put into words what everyone seemed to be thinking, "We're fucked."


	2. For a Few Caps More

Chapter 2: For a Few Caps More

For A Few Caps More

* * *

No one had anything to say after Easy Pete made his proclamation. They all sort of just stood around until Trudy spoke up, "Well we just can't stand around and do nothing."

"Aunt Trudy we're real sorry. I swear we'll whatever it that can make this right." Ralph stated as he stood up.

"You're damn right you will! But right now we'll have to figure out what exactly you can do first."

Sunny jumped in, "As far as I know, Amelia would probably have the most experience with stuff like this." She looked right at me, "What do you think we should do?"

I wasn't expecting them to come to me since I was a perfect stranger and all so I took a minute or two to mull it over, "As far as I can tell, you have two options. Neither of which will you consider to be ideal. Option one, you could appeal to the side of this Cobb dude that wants respect as gang leaders often do and have your boys walk his brother straight to his feet and proceed to beg for his forgiveness. Granted, they would probably kick the shit out of them and begin taking favors out on him for the rest of their natural lives and might hold it over you, Trudy, but that's your best shot at avoiding violence. Lethal violence that is."

Trudy looked at the twins, "Oh, come on miss, isn't there something that doesn't make us have to talk to him? Anything?" Kurtis pleaded.

"And that's my second choice. The best bet in my opinion. You could kill the dude." I suggested, flicking my head in the Ganger's direction. His eyes widened when he saw that I was dead serious, "After that, you drag his body over to Gecko territory and leave it there. I'm fairly certain that there's at least a few of the little bastards left. They sniff him out, gnaw on his corpse a little bit and that leaves Cobb with a cause of death that's perfectly divorced from you guys. Far as he's ever gonna know is that his brother was doing a little long-range recon and got jumped by some wildlife. You're in the clear."

Trudy wasted no time with her objections, "So you're saying that we murder him?"

"Yeah, pretty much. You'd wanna avoid a bullet to the brain and use a knife instead. Even though I doubt that they have any knowledge of autopsies over there you never can be too careful. It would be just like slaughtering one of those Big-"

"Now that's enough of that! That isn't our way. Even if he is scum we're not gonna slaughter a bound man who can't defend himself. No, Kurtis, Ralph, get ready to start groveling. I want you walking down that road within the hour."

"Y-yes Aunt Trudy." They said in unison before grabbing the prisoner and walking him out of the door.

As if the twins exit was synonymous with everybody else leaving with them she let out an exasperated sigh and circled around the bar counter before sitting in a stole behind and resting her face in her hands. Everybody in the room was watching her every movement like they were expecting her to make an important announcement. She looked surprised when she peeked through her hands to everyone looking at her, "What the heck are you all sitting around for? Don't you have jobs?" The majority of the people shuffled out of the building in a hurry. On our way to the Gecko grounds, Sunny told me that Trudy was well-liked and well respected around here. 'The town mom' she called her. I guess that sort of reputation also comes with being the wrong person to bullshit with when she's upset.

The only people left in the building were me, Sunny, Easy Pete and a slim man dressed in a vest and business shirt that was nice when compared to the overalls and flannels that seemed commonplace in Goodsprings. The latter of whom finally decided to speak, "I'll say it once and I'll say it now. Trudy, I'm not going to risk my life or my business because your 'boys' don't understand simple cause and effect. Whatever happens stays between you, them and whoever else you can sucker into this." He boldly stated in an unintimidating, professional voice.

"Chet, do you want anything to drink?"

"No thank you."

"Then get out." He didn't suffer her any resistance and stepped out immediately. She then looked right at me, "You came at an interesting time in our little town. I promise we're normally a lot more boring. Heck, the closest thing we have to a tourist attraction is Victor."

"The cowboy robot?"

"Oh, you've heard of him?"

"Yeah, the Doc said that Victor was the one who dug me up."

"That's what he said, right before he kicked me out of his house anyway. I'll tell ya, Mitch is just about the nicest and most generous person I've ever met but if you distract him from a patient you have thirty seconds before you catch an exact outline of how stupid you are while he's trying to save lives. Still, doesn't make sense to me. That robot has been here long as I can remember and he hasn't lifted a finger to help anyone but he sees you getting shot and suddenly he's willing to dig you up in the hopes that you're alright."

"Well if I see him I'll ask. You wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you?"

"No, Victor just kinda floats around and does his own thing. I'm sure you'll see him around though. He's hard to miss." She gestured to an open stool in front of the counter, "You look thirsty and from what Sunny's said you've earned a drink. What's your poison?"

I sat down upon her invitation, "Scotch, pretty please." She reached under her counter and dusted off a relatively clean white bottle and instead of giving me a glass she just handed me the whole bottle.

"Most folk here aren't into anything other the whiskey, liquor, and moonshine. So, what's your story?"

I took a long gulp, "Well…" I thought about what to tell them. Seeing as the suggestion to kill the Powder Ganger was something of an outrage for them I don't a lot of my 'childhood memories' would be appropriate small talk. So I went with the time-honored tradition of cherry-picking aspects of yourself to make people like you, "My dad always stressed safety as one of the most important things in life."

She chuckled, "That's good I guess but I meant more along the lines if where are you from?"

"I can't really give you a definitive answer there since I don't know but I can say that I'm from West of here."

"Oh, daddy was a traveling man?"

"Daddy was. Yeah, that's one way of putting it."

"So I see. Tell me, what exactly did you do to get Sunny vouching for you?"

Sunny stepped up and began to answer for before Trudy shushed her, "Now Sunny, I asked her, not you. Go ahead, Miss."

"I was helping her hunt Geckos, to be more accurate I was keeping her company while we both shot Geckos until we came across this girl who was cornered by the critters. Long story short is we saved her a- behind and she points us to where the Geckos have been hatching from which leads us to a this huge a- big Fire Gecko."

"A Fire Gecko? I'd be lying if I said that didn't sound like some rumor made up by some superstitious townsfolk to explain bad luck."

"They _have_ been used as such but they're as real as Radroaches. Basically, you take a Gecko and instead of having scavengers that walk around looking for anything that's vaguely meaty you have a territorial beast that has a bunch of baby Geckos to bring it's food to it."

"So you're saying that these are mommy Geckos?"

"Not all mommy Geckos are Fire Geckos but all Fire Geckos are mommy Geckos. They're pretty rare but if they do turn up you're bound to have one out of a variety of problems. Overpopulation of its younger counterparts, which is what you seemed to have, or you have a bad a case of getting your bar burned down and everybody you know getting mauled and charred. Hell of a fight."

"Bragging?"

"A little bit."

"I can appreciate the honesty. One last question since I'm sure I'm driving you nuts by now. What brings someone like you to a small town like ours?"

"It just so happens that it's the very reason I'm still here. I had a package I was supposed to deliver to New Vegas and I apparently was passing through and in the process, I got shot. That brings me to _my_ question. You know anything about the shooter? A guy in a checkered suit with some Great Khans in tow ring any bells?"

"Yes, actually I have seen people matching that description. Buncha freeloaders is what they were. For some reason they thought they were entitled to a few round on the house, they learned very quickly that it wasn't going to happen. Naturally one of them dang Khans 'accidentally' knocked over my radio. I tried to get some parts from Chet to fix it but that man is about the greediest sonafagun I ever met. So that's a no-go."

"Tell you what, you tell me what you know and I'll see what I can do with that radio"

"Deal." She answered, ducking under her to pull out her radio and flicked the ON switch. Instead of music or a voice coming from the speakers all that was heard was static. I used my knife to take out the screws at the back of it, "They were bickering about something but well-dressed one kept shushing them. Sounded like he wanted to head straight North but they were refusing. I wouldn't blame them."

"Why's that?" I asked, bent over as I tinkered with the electronics.

"Place is buzzing with some kind of critters. Not exactly sure what kind though, I did hear that they just get mad if shoot them and are inclined to rip grown men apart like a knife through butter. So wherever they went they must have taken Highway 93." Just as she finished answering my question I popped up and the radio was fixed.

" _There was never a man like my_ Johnny _._ "

" _Like the one they call, Johnny_ Guitar."

"Gah, Jesus!" I yelped before quickly flicking the radio off, "I hate that song!"

"A lot of people do for some reason. I always liked it myself. It's… Soothing."

"It's an audible war crime is what it is." I sheathed my blade, "Alright, Trudy thanks for the info."

"And thank you for fixing my radio." She reached into a drawer behind her and pulled up a handful of bottle caps, "How's 30 caps sound to you?"

"More than fair." I stuffed them into my inner jacket pocket, "So, Kurtis and Ralph."

"Yeah, I know. There about as wise as a developmentally stunted Molerat with both their brains put together but they aren't all bad. Got dealt a bad hand. Their mom passed a long while ago. Just so you know, I don't hold anything against you for that run-in you had with them. Those boys need a good whipping every now again. Just wish Sunny would start teaching them they can't be acting fools around her whenever they want."

"That's exactly what I told her," I remarked while smugly glancing back at Sunny, she just rolled her eyes.

"I sure hope you were right about Joe Cobb. I don't want to think about what would happen if you're wrong."

"Mind you, I gave you two options. One of which offered a greater guarantee of success."

"And I told you that it wasn't our way. Even if you're willing to kill an unarmed man we're not."

"I was just making sure that if Cobb doesn't want to play nice, and he very well may not, that you don't blame me."

"I won't, wasn't your fault that they decided to act fools and you were just telling us what you think we should do. Nope, whatever happens next is on us."

"Glad to hear it. So, wanna tell me about this Cobb fella?"

"Not much to tell. He's the head of a group a Powder Gangers and things have been getting heated between us for a while now. There's this guy who came into town recently by the name of Ringo. Right after he blows in this Cobb man comes a knocking and screaming a whole slew of elaborate threats if we don't bring him to him or to point him in his direction. I'm not about to throw a man I don't know to the wolf's for reasons I don't have."

"Sounds like a heck of a dilemma. Well if that's the case then even if he does forgive your boys it's just a temporary fix. Sooner or later you'll have to do something about the Ringo situation."

"Personally I hope he just slips out of town one night and takes those good-for-nothing punks with him. Unfortunately, that isn't likely to happen. Hasn't said more than two words to anyone here and has kept himself looked up at the old gas station for days now."

I sat and sipped my drink quietly listening. If there was one thing that seems consistent for all old-timers is that they really liked telling strangers about everything. I didn't mind though. I asked and she answered, "I wish you all the luck in the world with that. I have one more question before I head out. Is there a cemetery around these parts?"

"There is as a matter of fact. If you go behind the bar and keep going up the hill that way that's where you'll find it. Is that where you were buried?"

"I don't know but if I was gonna shoot someone and bury them then that would be the place to do it."

"I like you for some reason, just so you know. As far as I'm concerned you're welcome in our town." I couldn't but return the smile she gave me.

"Hang on sec'. I'll be out in a minute." Sunny shouted from across the room. I waited outside leaning against the same spot I was when I talked to Easy Pete. Speaking of the old man Sunny walked out with him, "Easy Pete's tagging along."

"Tagging along for what exactly?"

"We're gonna plug that cave up."

"Oh, makes sense. There were a lot of eggs in there. But do you mind me asking why Pete has to be involved?"

"Ask him where his dynamite is."

"Easy Pete, where's your dynamite."

"I'm not gonna go an' give up where my whole stash is for no reason. That'd be stupid." Easy Pete answered like he was reciting something he's said a hundred times by now.

"Now ask him if he could go get his dynamite for us to use."

"Well?"

"Nope, I let whippersnappers play wit' my dynamite and suddenly everyone in town is yelling at ol' Pete 'cause the kids are missing fingers. Not happenin'."

"That's why."

"Very well then. Let's hop to it."

* * *

Me and Sunny had been standing around outside the cave entrance waiting for Easy Pete to finish placing the dynamite, "What's taking him so long?" I whined impatiently.

"He doesn't like to use his dynamite, at all. Took me the whole time you were talking to Trudy to talk him into this and this is actually important. There's no way he's going to use more than the absolute bare minimum if he thinks he can help it. I don't really see why he's so concerned about the stuff. He never uses it aside from when we convince him we need it."

"Hey, we all have our little quirks. Especially when we start going over the hill."

"Guess so. You know, I never really thanked you for helping me with the Gecko. Probably would have gotten myself killed right off the bat if you didn't drag my behind out of the way."

"I'd say it wasn't any trouble but it really was. Still, my pleasure. But I do know of a way you could make it up to me."

"I'm listening."

"How come you got all suicidal when you saw that Shawn guy about to get chomped on? And before you try to tell me it wasn't some personal thing I'm just gonna tell you right now that you're lying."

"Duly noted, I suppose you do deserve to know, even if it isn't any of your business whatsoever. Shawn and I go way back since we were kids. He was my best friend and later on we… Well, you know." She explained while intentionally looking down at her feet.

"You were together."

"Yes, so when he went missing and we couldn't find him and then I thought he was dead and I had already accepted it when you and I went out hunting. So when I saw that he was alive-"

"Nothing else seemed to matter. I get ya now. Still, you didn't strike me as someone who had just lost a lifelong friend. I know everyone has their own ways of coping but you've been way more cheery than one would expect you to be."

"Sorry, you've used up your question." She brushed me off before walking to the cave entrance, "Pete! Hurry up in there!"

"Get in here! Both of you!" He demanded with a potent irritation in his voice. Following his orders we walked in to see him jamming a stick of dynamite in the crack of a cave wall, "Here's how this works." Both me and Sunny were tossed a zippo then he pointed to me, "You, stand by the stick on the left side of the wall there. It's high up so you might have to stand on yer tippy-toes. And you, Smiles, take the one farthest from the entrance."

"What, why me?" She protested.

"Because you got your boyfriend back. Doubt you'd wanna get your ass blown to bits now. Plenty of motivation to run like hell." Shit, that was some brutal logic right there, "I'm gonna be right here, about three feet from the exit because I'm old so I get to do things my way, any objections?" The silence was his answer, "Take your places an' don't take off till I say." I walked over to my appointed stick, stuck the match in my mouth right behind my teeth and quickly flipped it out causing it to light up. I always had a very juvenile habit of showing off with things like that. When we all got to our places and lit our matches Easy Pete raised three fingers, "ONE! TWO! THREE!" Then we all held our flames to the fuses until they caught and immediately ran when they did. Easy Pete was out first as he had practically no distance between the exit and the dynamite to cover. Next was me and that was no sweat since I wasn't that much further up and I was much faster than the old man. Sunny on the other hand was a considerable distance further up so she really had to hull ass to get out in time and even when she did she was close enough to the blast to get knocked off her feet. I ran over to see if she was okay but she just laughed it off and got up with no difficulty.

I looked over to see how the dynamite did and wouldn't you know it went perfectly. The entrance was completely stuffed with rubble, no way in and no way out unless you were a small insect, "Would you look at that. Something went well today."

"Easy Pete knows his boom-sticks, no denying that."

"Anything else you need, Smiles?" Easy Pete asked.

"Nope, Pete. That's it."

"Then I'm gone. Don't ask me for nothin' for at least a day." He declared before walking in the direction of Goodsprings.

"Kind of crotchety ain't he?"

"Normally he's pretty nice but if you stop Easy Pete from taking it easy you're gonna be stuck with an angry old man for the duration of whatever you're doing."

"So I see. Anything else you need me? Emphasis on the word 'me'."

"Nothing really. You've certainly earned your keep around here. Even if Victor didn't pay your doctor's bills I'd say all the work you've done has paid whatever you owe off. The question is what are _you_ gonna do now?"

"Like I told Trudy I'm gonna stop by my grave then I'm gonna hit the road."

She pulled a frown, "Leaving so soon?"

"The dick who shoot me has at least a couples days on me. I have to hop to it before whatever trail he may have left gets cold."

"Still though, I was just getting used to having someone else around here to go Gecko hunting with. But I suppose you have your obligations same as anyone else. Just don't be a stranger after you do get him." She requested giving me a playful punch in the arm. I returned the favor getting a chuckle out of her. She also gave me the most sincere smile I've seen from her since we meant, granted it was only a few hours ago but considering she has been smiling the whole time with only exception being when we found the Gecko nest this lead me to think and this extremely small thing was what made her give me a real, actual smile lead me to believe that she wasn't terribly happy.

"I will certainly try not to be. T- Take care, Sunny." Then we walked in different directions, me to the cemetery and her to the town. The closer I got to the grave site the more eerily quiet things got. Before long all that I could hear was the wind blowing and the crunch of the sand under my feet as I walked. Reaching the cemetery brought an itching feeling of familiarity which more or less confirmed that this where my burial was. There most of been thirty or forty graves there which made the well-dressed man's decision to kill me here make all the more sense. I had to wonder how the hell this Victor character found me. There was this buzzing filling the air. It sounded almost like it was wriggling. I knew exactly what that meant. In an instant, I brought my jacketed arm over my neck just in time to bar the larvae from my flesh. I turned on my heel and my pistol found itself in my grip and aimed at the large insect hovering in the air. I fired faster than the bug could have possibly reacted which led to its chunky demise. I then plucked the larvae from the sleeve and watched squirm desperately with its sharp teeth looking for a place to sink into for few seconds before squishing between my thumb and index finger.

I fucking hate Bloatflies. One of the most disgusting nuisances in the Wastes. They fire larvae at you which can burrow into your skin in seconds and then proceed to cause you all kinds of problems until you carve them out. Sometimes they find dying or otherwise weak creatures then make living nests out of them. It is _not_ a pretty fate.

I waltzed my way through the field of the deceased until I found evidence of recent disruption. Mounds of dirt carelessly tossed all over the place and a shallow hole was what must have been what my attackers intended to be my final resting place. Kind of funny that looking at it made me very uncomfortable since I always thought I wasn't even going to get a burial when I die. I passed the grave to the most familiar part of this place, the overlook. I could see for miles and miles, nothing but the blue western sky and the rolling hills ahead of me. I could even see the silhouette of the New Vegas skyline. I looked down to see what the drop off was like but my attention was caught by a number of burnt out cigarettes. I picked one up to examine it though I couldn't for the life of me think of how they could help me. I then flicked it off the cliff, stood up, took a long, deep breath and turned away to Goodsprings.

I checked my Pip-Boy's map, which had a detailed map of the area, and there was a town about 20 miles away from here so that meant I could get there in about six hours without any distractions. With that bit of information, I decided to slip out of Goodsprings as quickly as I think I appeared. I was already a couple dozen yards out and near the 'Welcome' sign when I heard a gurgling sound, almost like a Feral Ghoul. I took my pistol in hand upon that thought. It got louder and louder as I neared the sign. When I reached I swung around the corner, weapon out and ready to fuck up whatever was about to try to eat me. I then quickly lowered it when I saw what was there. It was Kurtis and Ralph, absolutely butchered. They were (naturally) drenched head-to-toe in blood with massive chunks of skin flayed off on their thighs and chest and bellies. Kurtis was missing his hands and Ralph had lost his legs and his throat was completely slashed open and they both were missing their eyes and were shaved bald and they were bare-ass naked and their genitals were mutilated. Kurtis was still breathing, however, thus the gurgling. I could tell he didn't have long left so I immediately ran back to Goodsprings to get Trudy and the Doc and probably the crowd that would inevitably follow.

When I reached the town I had bypassed the Prospectors Saloon entirely since I knew that Kurtis was gonna need medical attention as fast as possible. I unwisely burst through the door not even thinking that the Doc might have been in the middle of a delicate procedure. Thankfully he wasn't and was just going through some notes, "Doc, you're needed! As in right fucking now!" He didn't argue and instead grabbed his medical bag and followed me. As we got close to the saloon I pointed him to sign before I burst through the door. Trudy was serving drinks to some of the hardier ranchers in the town, "Trudy come on! It's Ralph and Kurtis!" Then I ran out without another word.

By the time I caught up with the Doc he was already working on the boys. Naturally, he had started on Kurtis since Ralph was way past dead when I found him. I had noticed that the Gangers sloppily patched up some of the bigger wounds on Kurtis so he wouldn't bleed out too quickly. Christ, that brings back memories. Not all of them though as his destroyed penis was on full display. He was too weak to even move his head when the Doc asked him to move his head if he could.

"Oh my god!" Trudy screamed when she saw what had happened. Her voice seemed to manage to stir Kurtis a little as his head very, very slightly jerked towards her direction. He was making this noise like, 'Aaahh Tuuu'. I think he was trying to say 'Aunt Trudy'. The Doc worked his ass off to save him and masterfully ignored the crowd that was gathering. Unfortunately, there wasn't much he could do so Trudy, who had worked up some nerve after watching in horror what was happening placed her hand on the Docs shoulder. He solemnly looked down and got up away from the boy.

"Trudy I-" She threw her hand up to silence him.

Trudy then rubbed Kurtis's head, softly and looked at him with the most loving expression she could make. Even though he couldn't see I can't help but feel it calmed him somehow, "It's gonna be alright honey. I'm so sorry I got you all beat up. B- But you'll get better. You and Ralph. Mitch is gonna fix you all up and you'll be good as new." She looked up at the Doc, it was taking everything in her to not break down and cry right there on the spot, "Right Mitch?"

He understood what she was doing, "Yep, that's right. You'll be good as new."

"I- 'm proud of you. You fixed your mistake even though it was h- h- hard and… You did good. Do you understand, honey?" Kurtis, mustering everything he had, nodded, "I love you." She then pulled out her revolver and shot him right in the head. Soon as he was dead she flopped on the ground and wailed. And I mean full on wailed, she discarded all of her dignity and just broke down in front of everyone. I didn't know much about those kids and the only time I talked to them it had ended violently but I did see how much they meant to her I could see she had lost the only family she had.

I won't lie, I got uncomfortable so I looked around for anything else to settle on when I saw something sticking out of the wound in Ralph's throat. It looked like paper so pulled it out and unfolded it, "Shit." I mumbled to myself before nudging Sunny in the arm, "Look at this." I whispered to her.

After reading over her jaw was agape, "Oh my god." She said a little too loudly drawing attention to her.

"What?" A random rancher asked.

I read the note out loud, _"If you think this was sad or some shit you should probably know that I've done this to people a hundred times before and I'll do it a hundred times more. I warned you one too many times and now you fucked up. We're coming. I don't even give a shit if you hand over Ringo tied up with an apple in his mouth now, we're gonna kill every last one of you shit-eating Brahmin fuckers. We'll kill the men, butcher the kids and rape the women. I'll get a good, long time with Trudy in particular. You think you can stop us? Try it. We'll be here in a couple days after I get these boys ready for a big haul. Enjoy these last few days on Earth. While you still can - Fuck you - Joe Cobb."_

* * *

I told them to pick the fucking Gecko option. I told them what to do but did they listen?

No, no they didn't and that wasn't my fault. This isn't is my problem I've already done plenty for this place. Yet for some reason, I've stuck around. I didn't know what I planned on doing but I had decided to help dig the graves alongside Sunny and a couple of the guys around town. No one said a word for fear of it being in bad taste. The job went quick enough thanks to my grave giving a nice head-start so we had two six-foot graves within the hour.

I could have said any number of things, how this was a waste of time and that they have to figure out what they are going to do before this Cobb guy shows up. The note made it sound like he had plenty friends and I think Kurtis and Ralph are pretty good evidence that these guys aren't bluffing. But I didn't, not my place.

To my surprise, Trudy didn't seem mad at me even though she had already said before that she wouldn't blame me. Not even when we put the boys in the ground. Only a few people showed up the little funeral they had though I'm not entirely sure if you could call it a funeral. It was me, Trudy, Sunny, Easy Pete and the Doc. The actual 'service' and burying of the dead didn't take even 30 minutes. I have to hand it to Trudy, she bucked up remarkably quick, two hours ago she was a writhing mess and by now her face had this stoney, focused look. After it was all said and done I was leaning against someone's house when Sunny came to me, shoulders dropped and sadness in her eyes, "Hey."

I took a long drag of the cigarette I was smoking before puffing it out, "Howdy."

She snatched it from my hand and took for her own use before leaning on a spot next to me. She just about choked to death after her drag, "Can I ask you something?" She inquired, struggling to speak.

"I'm pretty sure you already did but I'm sure I can afford you another." I had taken out another cigarette during that sentence. My last one to be exact.

"Are we actually fucked?"

"I can't really say for certain. I don't know how many there are or how we-"

She cut me off, "But you think we are." It was more of a statement than a question.

"Yep, pretty much. Something tells me that he wouldn't' be so liberal with his threats and murder if he didn't think he could take you which means he likely has a reason for thinking that."

She was silent for a really long time. I didn't know what was going to happen but I did know that despite everything, this was my fault. If I didn't feel the need to show off to a couple of shit-heads then they might not have felt emasculated enough to jump the Ganger and even though I gave them two options I knew exactly which one they were going to take. For all I know, that Ganger might have found Ringo, shot him dead and that would have been that. Much as this wasn't my problem I owe these people something. Or some of them at least. By the time Sunny spoke up her cigarette was down to the bud, "Well, I don't accept that." Then she kicked off the wall and walked to the saloon where I could only assume Trudy was.

Sunny seemed surprised when she caught me following her, "What are you doing?"

"I don't accept it either." I smugly replied.

She sort of smirked but still seemed hesitant, "That's really nice and everything but honestly, this isn't your fight."

"If I always stayed where I belong do you really think I would have found myself with two bullets in my head and in a shallow grave when I came here?" Before she could say anything else we had already entered the building and thus had entered into its depressing atmosphere. There wasn't a sole aside from Trudy who was absent-mindedly wiping down a spotless countertop. She didn't even acknowledge our presence till Sunny awkwardly cleared her throat, "Oh, hello ladies. Don't mind me I-"

"Trudy, this town is gonna get fucked up unless we do something. And you're going to need my help."

"Listen Mrs. Hirst I appreciate the thought but we've always gotten by before and we'll get by now."

"All due respect mam but that's bullshit and you know it. You can pretend it's gonna be okay but the fact of the matter is that I've seen a lot of towns similar to yours get sacked by raiders and Super Mutants and Deathclaws and slavers. I know what you're dealing with and I know that if you don't fight back they are going to make good on every one of their threats. I have the option of leaving you to your own devices but I'm not, Joe Cobb has the option of not attacking you but he is - You're the only ones who don't get a choice. You fight or you die." She refused to look me in the eye but I knew she had made up her mind, "Now please tell me, how can I help?"

Trudy mulled it over in her head while I and Sunny waited patiently, "Fine. I guess a good start would be talking to Ringo. He's had more experience with them than anyone exc- Then anyone we know."

"Then that's where I'll start." I walked out as quickly as I burst in, leaving them to discuss whatever they felt would be helpful. Lord knows that they knew that place better than I did.

* * *

 _Ringo_

* * *

Damnit, somebody's coming and they sure as shit aren't a Ganger. I knew it, Cobb killed two of them and now they're done hiding me under their skirt. What do I do? She's walking right towards me. I think I have to fight her. It's not pretty but dammit they tore those poor bastards up as a warning I don't even want to imagine what they'll do to me. I pulled out my .357 snub nose revolver and checked the cylinder: 3 rounds left, it would do. I pointed it directly where her head ought to be. My grip tensed up when I heard the sound of her feet pound on the wooden floor outside the door. They were very deliberate. The door flew open with a thud and I went to pull the trigger, but I couldn't even though my eyes were closed. I just couldn't shoot her, this wasn't my town and I didn't have any right killing someone so that I could stay.

When I opened my eyes I found that my nobility (I use that term loosely) was ultimately useless since she wasn't even standing in the doorway. About a second later she turned the corner and casually walked past me with her hands in the pockets of her jacket, "So your not trigger happy. Good to know, but you might have to change that for that big fight." She observed with a sort of cockiness about her.

"Who are you? What big fight?" I asked still clasping the snub nose in both hands.

"Oh, I'm being rude. My name is Amelia Hirst and Joe Cobb and his men are going to charge into town in two days and quote 'Kill the men, butcher the kids and rape the shit out of the women'. And you are going to help us make sure that he does not do those things."

My eyes widened and my grip loosened making me drop my gun to the floor. I was shaking, I knew that she was being serious and I knew that he could make good on those threats, "I-is all of this because of me?"

"Directly you and indirectly me but that's a long story that I don't feel like reciting for you. All you need to know is that I'm helping because I owe these people a debt and you're helping because you're going to."

I didn't want to. I wanted to just push past her and find another town to hide out in. Sloan I think is relatively close-by. But she was right, I was going to help. If I knew things were actually going to boil over this much I would never have come here. But I did, so now I have to do what I can to fix my mess. I reached down and picked up my revolver having regained my composure, "What do you want me to do?"

She had a sly grin that practically said 'Fuck yeah', "Right now it isn't what you can do but what you can tell me. How many are there? How well armed are they? And are they competent?"

"I couldn't really get a headcount but it did seem to be more than a dozen. And they all had guns, shotguns, rifles, submachine guns you name it. They didn't seem especially competent for the most part but that Cobb guy had an edge about him. Like he knew what he was doing and they all followed his orders like dogs." I scratched my head trying to remember one tidbit in particular, "Before I ran off I hid among the corpses of my friends. I heard Cobb mention something about a camp East of here. Might wanna check that out."

"Oh, trust me. _We_ will. Get some rest. You and I have a busy day ahead of us and we wake when the rooster does." Amelia told me matter-of-factly, "Also, I hope you're a lot more willing to use that thing on them then you were on me."

"Believe you me Amelia, I am." With that, she was out the door and I left to consider how drastically my circumstances have changed in a five minute period.

* * *

Amelia

* * *

 _I was sat a campfire, roasting some squirrel on a stick. I was much younger back then, 10 or 12 maybe. In those days I had a tragically hard time not burning my food back then and he never helped me on that front. Always said I should do it myself. He sat at the opposite side of the fire, roasting his squirrel to a much greater effect. We didn't say a word to each other. That is, until my adolescent mind wandered into a place only an adult could help me through, "Are you a bad person?" I asked with little inflection in my voice._

 _He was quiet for long while but, as usual, he eventually replied, "If you want to dig down and really get into deep thinking then you could argue that there is no such thing as a bad person. Fact of the matter is that I am. Good people help others, fight for the weak and play fair. I don't do any of that. Just ask these people." He threw up a wide gesture pointing out the corpses around us. A young woman to my right with a bullet in her throat, an old man behind me with his throat slashed open, a man to my left who looked to be in his thirties and his head was just about smashed in, "But the important thing isn't about being good or bad. The important part is that you survive. You have to survive Amy, and it just so happens that being a bad person is the best to do that. I'm a bad person, and these people were probably good people but what are they now Amy?"_

" _Dead people."_

" _That's right. I'm not a good person, but I'm great a staying alive."_

 _I sat in silence chewing on what he had said to me. I had but one more thought, "Am I a bad person?"_

 _He didn't say anything at first. He just stood up from the fat man he was sitting on. He had several stab wounds in his chest. Then he tossed me the rest of his food, "One day, you most likely will be. Eat that and go to bed."_

" _Sir yes sir." Was the last thing I said before I woke up._

* * *

Fuck, that one always filled me with… Regret? Nostalgia? I can never really tell. Sunny had allowed me to spend the night at her house. I had made plans with her over what we need to do before Joe Cobb arrives. We had to do some recon at his camp-sight, get support from the locals, acquire supplies from Chet, the town's most wealthy merchant which, Sunny assures me that it would be no mean feat and finally begin working on the defenses. We had lost a day due to everyone including Trudy and Sunny feeling lethargic over what happened to Kurtis and Ralph. So far she's told me that Easy Pete and Doc Mitchells are willing to do what they can to help fight but the Doc has a bum leg which means he won't be much of a help in a firefight. When I left my room I saw Sunny, Easy Pete and to my surprise, Ringo sitting at the table in what I suppose were the kitchen.

"She lives." Sunny quipped sarcastically. I groggily pulled up a chair to see to join in the conversation.

Ringo slide me a cup of black coffee, "When the rooster does huh?"

I begrudgingly accepted it, "I never was really good with the whole, 'Waking up exactly when I say I will' thing. So if you could forgive me I'd really appreciate it."

"I don't think two hours count as not being really good. More like you can't do it."

"Two hours? Jesus, I'm normally not that bad. Sorry, so is there anything I should know?"

"We were just waiting for you. Ready to head to out to camp?" Sunny asked.

"Do we even know where it is?"

"Well, Kurtis and Ralph got there and back in a few hours. So it can't be _that_ far away."

"Okay, one more thing." I stopped to consider how exactly I wanted to phrase this before settling on the blunt approach, "Why is Easy Pete coming?"

"'Cause I am." That was good enough for me.

"Alright then, fuck it, let's go." We then walked out of the house after I downed the rest of my coffee.

* * *

Sunny Smiles

* * *

"Whatever Pete, just hurry up and buy it so we can go." I insisted. Easy Pete demanded that we stop my Chet's shop before we leave Goodsprings proper. I don't know what he could have possibly needed but since he is, has always been and will forever be a stubborn old bastard he just grumbled when I asked.

I would have told him to not give that vulture any business but one of the ills my town suffers is that if you want something Chet is the best way to get it. Easy Pete, who is the of one of two cheapest man I've ever met and Chet, being the other one, must have haggled for an hour before the old man returned. He had a small pouch hooked onto his belt that jingled as he walked, "What's that?" I quizzed.

"One of Easy Petes no-no toys." He walked clear past me not bothering to make eye contact, "We goin' or are we goin'?"

"Don't look at me, Ringo's the guide here."

"I mean, I don't know exactly where they are."

"Then you'd best pretty damn lucky since you're going to walk around all by yourself until you find them if they aren't where you think they are." Amelia butted in. I don't think she was kidding either.

Ringo let out an irritated sigh, "Welp, I suppose we should get to it the. Everyone has everything?" There were no replies.

* * *

We had been walking East for a considerable time. Or maybe I was impatient on account of everyone I know being on the verge of death, who knows? I became clear that Ringo had even less of an idea of where they were than he let on as I could tell by the way he looked around like a dog tracking a scent that's begun to fade. He was biding time until Amelia had decided enough was enough and that this was going to become his job since we had other things to do.

I liked her. Not sure why since I can't shake the feeling of something just being, off, about her. But I liked her. I had this sense that she was going to be what saves us if we survive this and that sense was something more abstract then just going off the fact that she killed that Fire Gecko. No, it was something about the way she walked. There was this coldness to her movements, a lack of passion. Even when we were fighting those normal Geckos. The only time it seemed to dissipate is when she pulled that knife on Kurtis and Ralph and when we fought that Fire Gecko.

She sighed in boredom and slapped her hands against her side, "Alright Ringo. I'm bored and have a ton of stuff to do so you're gonna have to find this place on your o-"

"I see it." Said Ringo.

"You said ten minutes ago."

"No, Amelia I really see it come up here." He waved her over excitedly onto the hill he stood on on top of before going prone.

"Well, I'll be damned." She muttered to herself as she lowered to his level. I joined them and saw the camp with my own eyes. And it was way worse than I originally thought. There were dozens of men. Angry looking men all of whom were either messing around with their weapons, playing cards over air conditioners and car tires and fighting. There was a collection of rusted up buses and truck trailers they were using for shelter and there were several bodies. Naked, female bodies to be exact. I shuddered to give that any more thought than I already did. Among them, all was Joe Cobb who sat atop of some sort of large object that I couldn't identify since it had a large, brown tarp draped over it. Like a pathetic king running a pathetic kingdom, he watched them with a face oozing self-satisfaction as he knew they didn't dare mess with him.

I unshouldered my rifle and took aim right at his stupid head before Amelia pulled it down the ground by the barrel, "Are you stupid?" She asked incredulously.

"What? We take him out and he can't threaten us anymore."

"Oh, right I forgot all of his friends would just drop dead soon as he does. Silly me."

"Well obviously not but, well, it couldn't hurt to have less Ganger around for the fight."

"You fire now and you bring down every single one of them on us. Even if we escape they'll head to Goodsprings immediately which means you have no time to prepare which means you're fucked. This is recon we go in. See what they got. Get out."

She had a point. We didn't stand a chance if we couldn't prepare and killing their boss is exactly what would bring that down on us, "Fine. So what now?"

"Now, we get a head-count. There seems to be around 60." There was little to no surprise in her voice which is odd because it certainly concerned me.

"You mean 60 of them?"

"Give or take 5. And that's not counting the sniper." She lazily jabbed her finger in his direction bringing him to my attention. He stood at the peak of a hill slightly better elevated then ours though he seemed to be focusing his attention on the nearby road. No doubt to look for more caravans to butcher.

"He'll do." Easy Pete stated ominously. He then took off the backpack he had trudged along with us and pulled out a tin can and a stick of dynamite. He then pulled out the big buck knife he always carries in his boot and saw it open, spilling a little blasting powder on the ground in the process. He was humming a jaunty little tune the whole while as he poured enough powder in the can to fill it to the brim before sealing it up again. That's when he reached in the little bag on his hip and pulled a tiny black box with a small antenna sticking out and a strip of tape over its front which he proceeded to slap onto his powder in a can, "Most think that mines are only the only things you can get that'll kill your enemies without you being there. Most people are wrong. What you got here is a dynamite mine. This box here is a sensor module. I call 'em powder charges and it'll ruin any whippersnapper that gets in its way."

I took it from him to carefully examine it. It was sort of beautiful in its simplicity. What I don't get is why he has all this knowledge on how to use dynamite and who it can be useful for more than just chuckin yet he refuses to teach others, "That's really impressive Pete. But didn't Amelia say we couldn't attack them?"

"I did. But I didn't say we couldn't act." She then yanked it from my hand, "So you just flip the switch and then whoever gets in its path triggers the boom?" She asked Pete. He gave her a solemn nod, "Sweet, you guys can head home. I'll follow you shortly afterward." And without another word, she was off to do whatever odd plan she had in store.

* * *

Joe Cobb

* * *

Of all the things that surprised me in that stupid fucking prison. Like the fact that we escaped or how that Wyatt pussy is still breathing. My new throne takes the goddamn cake. That warden cried like a little bitch when Eddie carved his arrest record into his chest but I'm the one who gets the ride? Talk about winning big.

Can't fucking wait to show that cowtown what's for. They brought it on themselves. I told them a hundred times to hand over the shit eater or they'll burn but they were too fucking stupid to listen.

I'm really excited what they'll have in store for us when we get there. Maybe they'll have Ringo on a stick thinking that'll save 'em. Maybe they'll throw in Trudy as a bonus for getting them into this mess. I always liked them a little more mature. They go limp faster. Or maybe, they'll fight. Won't that be a goddamn sight? Five or six frightened farmers with shotguns standing on their porches, then they see 60 hardened killers comin' straight for 'em. We'll see.

"Holy shit, guys come here!" I heard one of my boys call out. I looked over to see him waving over about seven others. I stood up to get a better look at what he was talking about. It was Gordon, our sniper, he was sprawled out at the foot of the hill he had been perched on. Dumbass must've fallen or somethin'. But that didn't make sense. If he did he would have screamed right? And there wasn't near enough dirt for someone who had rolled off a huge hill.

"Stop!" I shouted I didn't like the look of this. They didn't hear me as they kept joggin' over to his body, "Fuckin' stop!" I shouted even harder. Still didn't listen. I whipped out my Charter Arms Bulldog .44 revolver and fired a shot in the air. That got their attention but it was too late. The one at the front took one more step as he looked at me then BOOM! An explosion erupted where my dead boy was layin'. The whole fuckin' group that came to investigate got blown away. Several of the nearby wusses covered their ears. I leaped off of my ride and bolted to the scene. All of them were dead. Limbs were strung about and a few of them were torn in half. It was fuckin' impressive, to be frank. Something sort of caught my eye. There were little bits of metal scattered around. They were blackened by the explosion.

I started laughin' to myself which kinda freaked the boys out. That laugh turned up in intensity to the point where I was in tears, "Bro? You alright?" My bro asked me. He was always the more mellow one.

When I finally caught my breath I turned to face him, tears still in my eyes, "Holy shit Carl! You see what happened here?"

He looked around as if he was trying to see something that wasn't there, "Uh, no."

"Those Brahmin fuckers actually laid a trap. Wasn't no honorable cowpoke shit like you'd expect them to do either. You know what that means?" He shook his head, "They hired a merc. Ya think anyone there would've slashed a guys throat, put a mine on his dead ass and left him for his friends to find?"

"Well, yeah actually. There was this one chick. Pretty thing with red hair. They asked what they should do about me and she just said they should just ice me and leave out in Gecko turf to get torn up. She was a cold bitch, not even a drop of concern when she said that. It was actually pretty hot. You'd like her."

"Oh, really?" I pushed past him and walked to my ride on the way I tapped four guys on the shoulder and told them to follow. When I got back I hopped back up and looked at all of them, "You boys got a special job. You're gonna do some testing. There's this bitch in Goodsprings. Red hair and apparently likes to play our way. She's way too much of a help to those shit flingers over there. Kill her. Hell, if you can, beat her ass first. Hell, if you can, bring her alive. I'd really like to take that firecracker for a ride. Carl can give you a description. Get in, get it done and if you do good you get first pick of the loot when we sack that joint. Bring her alive and you get that plus you won't have to do jack shit during the actual raid. Just sweep in when we're done and have all the fun you want. Got it?" They nodded eagerly, "Good, now get the fuck out." They obeyed without hesitation, "Top of the fuckin' world." I muttered to myself before takin' a big ol' gulp of my beer and tossin' it into a big crowd.

* * *

Amelia

* * *

I had just arrived at Goodsprings to see a massive crowd had gathered around the space between the Prospector's Saloon and Chet's shop. Trudy stood atop a collection of crates next to her building and Chet stood on an overturned wagon next to his building. I got closer so that I could hear what they were arguing about.

"...Did you people hear what she said? 60 of them! 60 people who can and will kill you all if you get in your way! 60 dangerous convicts who managed to escape the NCR. We're not the NCR. We are farmers and businessmen in my case and Trudy is suggesting we battle them like some Pre-War cowboy flick! This isn't a movie! This is our lives! You wanna throw yours away?"

Then Trudy spoke up, "And what are you suggesting? That we roll over and die? If we don't fight we'll die! We don't have a choice, Chet!"

"NO! We're done doing things your way Trudy! If you had swallowed some of that good, honest small-town pride you put so much stock in we'd be safe. But no! You had to be the big man and keep a stranger safe even after being threatened multiple times! This is your mess! Your fault! If we let them come and take Ringo and you then they'll leave us alone! It's the only thing that makes sense. Why would they waste bullets on people who won't give them trouble? They won't! People, stop listening to Trudy! She doesn't know what she's dealing with! She got us in this position by refusing to swallow her pride and she'll get us out by accepting the consequences of her actions!" He was a much, much better speaker than Trudy. Made sense since he was a salesman after all. She didn't do well with the pressure of having to convince people to not get themselves killed.

The crowd was visibly gravitating to his side, much to Sunny, Easy Pete and Ringo's dismay. I knew what I'd have to do. I grabbed Trudy roughly yanked her off her platform boldly, "Hey dipshits!" I shouted, "Have any of you taken down a raider gang?" They were dead silent. Even Chet. I let the quiet sink a little while to make my point, "How many of you have ever killed anyone?" Only Sunny, Ringo, Easy Pete, a few of the hardier looking men and few of the old folk and a reluctant Trudy raised their hands, "I have. And I know their types. I know what they can and have done to people and what they'll do for the most basic reasons. You'll tell yourself that they won't because it doesn't make sense and there's nothing to gain from it and if you let them be they won't bug you if you don't have anything they want but I'll tell you from every kind of experience you can have, that's bullshit. They will kill you all. They won't do it for your shit or because you fought back. They will do it because they think it's funny. That's all they need. And you don't have a snowball's chance in hell at surviving what's coming if you don't stick together. Some of you are too young or too old or too crippled and some of you are just too chicken shit but if any of you don't want to die screaming and have to ability to prevent it grab a gun, grab all of your bullets, grab a hammer and get to fucking work. All of you that can't fight get the fuck out here and out of our way and those of you that won't help. You should probably just shoot yourself now because that's whats going to happen if we lose."

They seemed to be more interested in what I was saying than when Trudy had the stand but they still seemed inclined to the option that didn't require them to do anything, "How many of you trusted Chet before all of this? Let's get a show of hands." Not a single person raised their hands. I let that linger as well, "Figures, ask yourself this. Name one time Trudy has steered you wrong. Name one time Chet has proven himself more trustworthy then Trudy. Or the Doc for that matter, or Sunny. Hell, I just got here but I am fairly confident that I have done more to prove myself reliable than Chet has in all his years here. Is that the kind of person whose judgment you'd stake your life on?" After I had finished speaking the only sound that was to be heard was the wind blowing. One of the guys to the back of the crowd walked to Trudy's side. Then three others followed suit. That snowballed until we had over forty people on our side and ready to fight for Goodsprings. There was still a disappointing number of people who stuck with Chet but those were the people who weren't worth convincing.

Chet was quite clearly disappointed, "Great, you've all signed on to die. Pride won't get you a damn thing in this world." He hopped off his wagon and stormed to his shop. He stopped at the open doorway, "Your little militia can forget about any supplies from me by the way. I don't care if you dangle every cap in Vegas in front of me. If any of you have any sense go to homes and wait this clusterfuck out." With that, he slammed the door and the sound of the lock engaging was his parting gift.

"What now?" Sunny whispered to me.

"What now? We get to goddamn work. Easy Pete, how many of those sensor modules did you buy?"

"'Bout a dozen." He answered, patting the pouch containing them.

"That's a good start, you're gonna churn those fuckers out. People, I want you to get anything remotely capable of killing a person from your house when you have that you start getting wood, sheet metal, bricks whatever you can find that's sturdy and you can take cover behind. I want at least the East and South side decently covered since East is where their camp is and South is where the road runs from. Now, unfortunately taking the East is going to be akin to be assigned front-line duty so to be fair we'll assign the most capable people there. Any questions?" I don't think they even knew enough about what I was talking about to question my reasoning and I didn't have time to explain it, "Then stop staring and hop to it!" The settlers of Goodsprings scrambled to their houses.

I, on the other hand, went to go to the Doc's house before Sunny stopped me with a hand to the shoulder, "Hang on, what do you want me to do?"

"I figured that'd be obvious, do what you can to make sure those people know how to do this. Most of them haven't killed anyone and I'm too busy to deal with that so that's your job. Can you do that?" I was given a hesitant nod for confirmation, "As for you Trudy, you're gonna help with the civilian shit. Your presence will keep their spirits up. And Ringo, what are you good at?"

"Um, I'm a decent shot, I uh, I know a thing or two about engines. Some caravans out West used fixed old vehicles to carry cargo. But I don't see how that'll help. Oh! I did notice that they actually did utilize some tactics when they attacked us. The caravan I was running with numbered at about four caravaners including myself and 10 guards. They liked to use the dynamite as sort of covering fire rather than as grenades. While we were trying to avoid the explosives they picked us apart. They didn't even stand a chance. I recognized the pattern though, that's why I'm still here I guess."

"Well, there you go. You're gonna go and make sure the town folk no what they're gonna throw at them. Doable?"

"Doable." Ringo then marched off, excited to be useful. Was cute actually.

I knocked against the wall in the Doc's house so that I was sure I wasn't disturbing him or anything, "Come on in." He softly called out. Cheyenne was happily resting on a little bed the Doc had made for her on the floor. When she heard me come in she struggled to her feet and eagerly ran as fast as she could to me. Granted, she was still recovering so it wasn't very fast but it was the thought that counted. I kneeled to meet her and didn't do anything to stop her from licking my face, "I see you two are getting along. Cheyenne's a tough girl, she's recovering way faster than I would have predicted."

"And Shawn?"

The Doc grimly looked at his still infirm patient, he wasn't much better than when I last saw him but he was one leg short, "I'm doing everything I can."

"I see. Well, this is gonna make me sound staggeringly selfish but is there anything you can spare for the fight?"

"I can't when it comes to fighting but I do have some stimpacks I can loan you all. Won't be enough since I see that you've amassed quite the force but I'll spare what I can." He stalked off to a nearby closet and dug through it. As he did that I noticed something, that same song he's had playing every time I've been here was playing and he was muttering the lyrics as he did things just like the other times.

 _Let's ride into the sunset together._

 _Stirrup to stirrup, side by side._

It was quite clearly more than him liking the song. I couldn't help but feel this sadness emitting from him, "What's so special about this song, Doc?" I immediately regretted that.

He stopped dead in his tracks. He was silent for a long, long time before he went back to what he was doing. I decided to not press him further. I was handed a wooden box full of stimpacks, bandages and a few shots of morphine, "Ms- I- I know you mean well but… No. Not up for discussion. Not now, not ever." I answered him with an affirmative nod. The Doc, ever charitable, threw me and kindly smile and understanding smile. They did a good job of hiding the tears brimming in his eyes, "I'm rooting for you out there. I wish you luck." Nothing else needed to be said. He didn't want to talk about it and god knows I'm familiar with topics such as that.

I walked back to the  
saloon to drop off these supplies to be stopped by something. It was a robot, I huge one that must have been over 9-feet tall with a boxy chassis about as wide as three of me. The arms were something like metallic tubing ending in triple pronged claws and instead of legs, it balanced itself on a single large wheel. The most eye-catching feature of this eye-catching robot was the tv screen centered at its body, on that screen was the image of a friendly cowboy, "Howdy, pardner! Might I say, you're looking fit as a fiddle!" It exclaimed in a matching, yee-haw cowboy voice.

I was surprised, to say the least. This had to have been Victor, that was obvious but when people said cowboy robot I was expecting a Mr. Handy with a cowboy hat on or something but this, I didn't even know what this was, "Um, Hello? You're Victor I presume?"

"You presume right miss. And I am glad to see you're okay."

"Wh- What are you?"

He let out a hearty chuckle, "I'm a Securitron, RobCo security model 2060-B. If you ever see any of my brothers, tell them Victor says howdy. Most of 'em are in Vegas right about now."

"Oh, good to know. So, you're the one who saved my ass, correct?"

"I struggle to be so vulgar about it but if that's your preferred way of puttin' it then yeppers, I am the one who done dug ya up."

"And I appreciate that but why?"

"Whaddya mean why? I saws ya get shot an' I wanted to make sure you was alright. It was the neighborly thing to do."

I narrowed my eyes. It could have just been me being overly cautious but I think that robot was omitting the truth, "Mmm hmm, that's one thing but to actively dig my probable corpse up is a whole other story."

"I dunno miss I guess I was feelin' heroic that night. Good thing I was, otherwise you'd be rottin' right about now. I wouldn't go lookin' gift bots in the mouth if I were you." That last line had a hint of malice, I'm not sure if robots could have actual malice towards people but that's what I was getting, "I should go now. You take care now."

Victor wheeled around to go patrol some random direction before I stopped him with a tug on his shoulder? "Hang on a sec. Any chance you got any firepower?"

"Hehehe, do I got firepower? Imma Securitron, we all come standard with a 9mm submachine gun and a Glastinghouse X-25 Gatling laser. 'Because there's nothin' as safe as a Securitron'." He laughed way too hard at what I assumed was a Pre-War sales pitch.

"Sounds impressive, in fact, that gives me an idea. You're designed for security and it just so happens that this town here is in desperate need of security at the moment. We're looking at a pretty serious offensive tomorrow and I would appreciate it if you felt heroic and helped us minimize the casualties."

"Now that is a fantastic idea miss, as a matter of fact, my helpin' you has gotten me wantin' a taste of adventure. Ya can count on me." I didn't stop him when he zoomed off this time. He was really fast for his size so I doubt I could have even if I tried.

"What to do, what to do?" I was running through everything we had going for us so far. A giant robot, 40 farmers, the home-turf advantage, a small minefield. When I got to the last one it occurred to me that it wouldn't be enough taking into account we'd want to cover all the likely fronts. That was important since I knew that once things got to close quarters that's when we started seeing a real loss of life on our end. All the walls and defensive positions don't mean jack and/or shit when you have angrier, stronger and more violent thugs going knife and fist against farmers. We definitely want to take as many down as we can before it gets to that.

With that in mind, I went to go see East Pete about getting more of those sensor modules only to feel a strong pair of hands cover my mouth, "Hold still bitch." He growled in my ear, bringing a razor sharp blade to my throat. Not giving him any time to do much else I took his arm in both hands and jerked it downwards.I then used all my weight to pull his arm so that I was positioned at his side allowing me to stab him in the side. Which I did, about four times. Once that was done I jammed his blade in the back of his neck dropping him like a sack of shit.

"You whore!" Another man's voice called out, this time coming from my right. He wielded a lead pipe and swung it where my knees were no-doubt supposed to be and they would have been had I not a jumped backward and straight into the arms of his friend. This was one must have been confident because he only used his bare hands to restrain me. Luckily for me, he didn't see me pull my blade out of my holster until I had jammed it deep into his thigh. He screamed in pain and release me just in time to duck under the man with the pipes swing which missed its mark and knocked the other guy to ground instead. He tried his luck with a diagonal swing but again to no avail as I sidestepped it. A mistake that cost him his life since I used that opportunity to thrust the knife into his exposed throat.

"Ughhh." Almost thought that guy had done me a favor and died when he was struck. No such luck, "W- Wait for a fu-" I helped him finish with a few cracks at the back of the head with the pipe.

"I really hope nobody makes me clean that up." Now I had to see about those sensor modules.

* * *

Carl Cobb

* * *

There was a lot worse places to be. But that didn't make this one feel any better. I mean, on one hand, my big bro's leading a whole crew and we get first pickin's of any loot they bring back. No one fucks with him or me. But an on the other. Joe got weird after the NCR clamped us.

It used to just be me and him against the world back at the Boneyard but ever since he started getting followers in the clink it's gotten to his head and he's been acting creepy as shit. Muttering to himself, getting bent out of shape over nothing. That fucking Ringo guy being a prime goddamn example. Yeah, there's a reason we were in prison and yeah, we've killed folk who didn't necessarily need killing but this shit is out of control. All the guy did was manage to live and Joe's acting like he spat in his face and stomped on his gut. He never took shit this person and he didn't… He still doesn't rape chicks. Some of the other guys I can't say that but Joe doesn't. Hell, he never even talked about it till those poor, fucking bastards brought me up to him. Now he's rape this and rape that and it's driving me nuts. I don't know what's happening to Joe all I know is that he's taking it out on that town.

I was sitting next to him on top of the ride we stole from the warden, Joe's taken to it as a goddamn throne and the only other person who sits on it without getting fucked up is me, "I can't wait till that town is ours, Carl. Think about it. How long have we dreamed about runnin' our own town?" Joe asked, chuckling to himself.

"Long as we can remember Joe, long as we can remember. Mind if I ask you a question?"

"You're my brother, Carl, the fuck you care if I say yes or no?"

"Why is this shit so personal to you?"

"Man, why do ya gotta get all deep and shit? It's the Wasteland, live free or die like a bitch. I warned that dipshit a thousand times and she didn't listen and now she's paying the price. She's too damn stupid to live."

"Maybe so but it just seems like a lot. I was just talking shit when I said you'd fuck them up."

"I wasn't. You aren't goin' soft on me are ya?" His face turned into a scowl, "I ain't having no fucking social workers in my crew!" He threw his bottle down, as he likes to do, and stood up, looming over me, "I don't care if we grew up together. You're with me or you're against me. What's gonna be?" I don't give a damn if he was running a huge crew, I never take this kind of bullshit from him. I jumped to my feet and got right in his face.

"You know I'm always with you! Doesn't mean I'm gonna shut up when you're being a goddamned idiot!" I jabbed him in his shoulder to illustrate my point that I wasn't scared of him. He didn't expect it so he fell down and almost rolled off the ride. That got the attention of everyone in the camp. Joe shot off the ground faster than anybody should be able to a slugged me right across the jaw. Much as I hate to admit it, he was always stronger than me. Still, I kept balanced and charged right into him in an attempt to knock him off, don't know why I guess I thought it would pound some sense into him. Regardless he stopped just short of the edge and proceeded to punch me in the side and stomach until I let go. When I did he took a hold of my collar and punched me even harder than the first time. I couldn't stand up after that one and he knew that so he tossed my limp body off the ride. The impact wasn't pleasant but I've had worse. That's all I had time to think about before I heard the very distinct sound of him pulling back the hammer on his Bulldog. My eyes opened to the sight of my brother pointing a hand cannon at me, face lacking any sign of hesitation. Psycho or not, he was my brother and he wouldn't shoot me. Not over this. Not even in front of all his 'boys'.

We stared each other down for a long time, completely disregarding the audience. The longer this went on the more I thought he might actually do it. I couldn't be the one to back down though, I wasn't gonna let him think he can scare me like he does the others, "Joe! Joe!" A far away voice called out. It was one of the guys Joe sent out to take out the red-headed girl. He was alone, "Man we fucking tried man! She took 'em out! All of 'em. I had to run otherwise I'd be next on the menu. I was like nothing to her.I think she really knows what she's doing man. And she was talking to this big fucking robot." He rattled off his report quickly and completely exhausted. Joe listened intently then got this look in his eye. That fucking look. He shot it over at me and I knew exactly what was going to happen. He lowered his arm and looked over at the messenger who had also must've seen what was about to happen to him.

"W-wait. Joe! We fucking tried man you gotta believe me! You gotta-" The round rocketed inside one end of his head and out the other.

"Ya hear that boys? We got a fucking challenger! You know what that means? It means that you're gonna have to get ready for this one! I want you inspecting your weapons, eating good and staying off the booze and chems! I want you in top condition when we slaughter those fuckers! I catch any of you fucking around and you'll end up like him, got it?" No answer. He didn't even have to say the word for them to get to work, "And by the way, might wanna watch out for the ride on the battlefield." He looked at me as smug as fucking ever.

"Better hop to it, Carl. We got a big day tomorrow." I don't know what I wanted but I did know this. No brother of mine points a gun at me.

* * *

Ringo

* * *

I think she was exaggerating when she said 'wall'. I feel like a better description would have been 'A cobbled together series of various solid objects to give us enough cover from the psychos'. But that's just me. I tried my best to make everyone here grasp what we're dealing with but I don't think much of it stuck and I don't think I can expect much from them outside of shooting at the bad guys till they die. Not to imply that I'm some tactical genius but you don't run caravans for as long as I have without picking up a few things here and there. We're doing the best we can but fact of the matter is that some of these people won't be making it out and I'm fairly certain they're the only ones who don't know that. Amelia, Sunny, Trudy, Easy Pete… We're all well aware that this very well might not work out.

I walked around aimlessly for something to do but I was lacking woefully in that department. There had to something other than wall pounding for me to do. I thought Sunny would be my answer due to the fact that I found leaning against the wall behind Chet's shop looking moody, "Hi, why the long face?"

The moment she realized I was there she went back to her usual smile, "Oh hey Ringo. It's just that our supply situation is way worse than we initially thought. Way, way worse."

"How's that?"

"Well, we have 40 people not counting me, you, Trudy, Pete and Amelia. I did a headcount and only 36 of them have guns and about half of those were poorly maintained and not a single one of those people had more than 20 rounds and when you have a force that is made up of noncombatants you really can't afford to indulge in suppressing fire. That little minefield Pete's cooking up is only worth so much and… Well, frankly I'm not liking the look of things."

"Neither am I. It's even worse when I know that if everyone who dies in this fight, provided it isn't everyone, is gonna die because of me. If I hadn't been so damn careless this all could have been avoided." I hard slap across the face shut that train of thought down.

"That's enough of that. You heard what Joe did to Kurtis and Ralph. There's no reasoning with someone like that. Every single one of those blue coated bastards are scumbags. We would have had to deal with this sooner or later. Just wish we had more time to prepare. We're not making it through this if we don't find a way to get more supplies."

Just like that, a light bulb flickers to life in my head, "You know what, I think maybe we do have a way." She tilts her head in curiosity, "It'll have to wait until nightfall."

* * *

Amelia

* * *

I swung by Easy Pete's area to see how he was doing only to find him smoking a fat cigar with a bulging bag at his feet, "You're done I presume?"

"Yep, I figured you'd wanna be the one to place 'em since you're likely to know more about that than me."

"Fair enough. Tell me, old man, what do you rate our chances at survival?"

"Like I said before, we're fucked. But, I think everything you's been doin' has helped push us into a slightly less fucked territory. I wish I could do more but I'm just an' old man who knows his dynamite." He then chuckled to himself. I have never seen him so much as crack a smile so I was admittedly curious, "But I'm also an old man with a shit ton a' dynamite…" He slowly rose from his rickety rocking chair and stalked off Northwards into the town, "Follow me…"

And so I did. I followed him to a rather unremarkable white house not too dissimilar from Sunny's. It was quiet and dark and simple, very simple with little in the way of decorations. Spartan, almost. Without saying a word he took a hold of the busted up fridge in his kitchen and begun pulling it outwards, not even asking for help. When he had it at an acceptable distance from its original spot him and me moved in to see a trap door painted with the same color his floor was. Reaching into his shirt he pulled out a key on some string and proceeded to unlock the padlock and carelessly tossed it aside, "Hold on to your ass…" With a dramatic swing, he opened the door revealing it to be practically spilling out with dynamite. I was shocked, it looked to be pretty deep and was absolutely brimming with fuck-you-up sticks, "This here collection, is why I don't loan out my dynamite to just anybody. Toss me that sack on the table over there." I obliged and he began stuffing it with dynamite, "I'm only filling this and one more bag left. If shit really hits the storm I want you to lead as many whippersnappers as you can then get the hell outta the way. Catch my drift?" Easy Pete inquired, a smug grin creeping on his face.

"Oh, I know _just_ what you mean." I was starting to like this old man.

I then handed out the bags of dynamite and did my best to evenly divide it out. Two sticks per person and then me and the Sunny, Ringo and Pete got five because we are better at killing people than the others.

The Sun has recently set and we had nearly finished the wall. I say wall but it was more like a long line of cover around the South and northern borders of the town. I kept saying wall because it kept spirits up and I think no one really noticed. Sunny and Ringo say that they had an idea on how to fix our supply issue. Which is good because I was legitimately planning on putting a bullet in Chet's head and kicking the door to his shop in. Not like he won't suffer the same fate if we lose. They said when the sun goes down is when they strike.

What the fuck am I doing? Why am I making this my problem? I'm running a very real risk of getting killed tomorrow. Dad's probably spinning in his grave right about now. Whatever, I'm here now and I'm gonna have to see it through. I will promise this, however, if I survive this, I will not get distracted by any bullshit not related to me finding and shooting the fuck-head who shot me.

To be honest, I do feel a certain sense of pride watching them work. Building my own little militia, look at me, the good fucking samaritan. I hate charity work. I needed a smoke and so I started smoking to get my mind off all of this stress, "Hey you." Said Sunny.

" ?"

"Nope, not normally my thing." She looked off into the same distance I was as if she was pondering before asking me something, "How… How do you know how to do all this?"

"I grew up in Wasteland. You don't get far if you can't cope with bad situations."

"No, you're not the first person whose passed through, just the most interesting. You have some kind of unique experience with this sort of thing, you're really good at fighting things and you're entirely way too nonchalant about this. What are you?"

What was I supposed to tell her? Tell her all about my past? All the messy details? Every fucked up thing I've done and every person I've killed? No, I wasn't going to do that, "Sunny, I like you but you do not want the answers you'll get if you keep probing my brain like this. I consider you a friend and that's the reason I won't tell you anything about me. Because that's the worst thing I could do you."

She didn't look at me for what felt like an hour though in reality, it was likely closer to a minute, maybe two, "Fine, you got your wish, I'll leave you alone. Me and Ringo are going to break into Chet's store now.

"Call me if you need help with the safe."

They did not need my help with the safe. I gotta hand it to Chet, he must have been a really good businessman to have the heat he was packing. Shotguns, pistols, SMGs, rifles, revolvers, knives, and dare I say most modules. Easy Pete hopped right to it when they made that discovery. The raiding of Chet's shop provided me with something I haven't had in days, a lack of direction. No problem to solve. Believe me, I tried to find something, anything. I asked around right up until I got to Ringo who gave me a new task, "Pick a god and pray."

* * *

I felt the tension wash through the air as the sunlight bathed the town from border to border. I couldn't see anything and no one could hear anything but we all knew that the fight has already started. I made sure to look at the people in front of me one last time before the bodies started to drop. And believe me, they were going to drop. It was easy to see the ones who were plainly aware of this by the rigid way they stood like they saw a train speeding right at them and they had no time to move. They were also going to be the first to die. I didn't want this to be unevenly balanced so I had 20 people on the Northern front and 20 on the Southern front.

I saw them. Just over the hill was the front lines of the offensive force. Before we all took our places I made it a point to tell them to stay hidden behind cover and don't fire until I said otherwise.

I myself was perched prone on top of the Prospector Saloon with a Winchester M1866. Trudy was ducked behind a pile of overturned wagons with about four other people with a simple double barrel shotgun. Sunny was stationed at the Eastern front on top of a house, Ringo was by a window inside the house she was on and Easy Pete was sat behind some makeshift sandbags. The Gangers were charging headlong towards us slightly confused. Thank god they were dumb. The charge was reduced to a mild jog as they figured this would just be a simple raid instead of a shootout due to the lack of gunfire. Just a little further, "Sound off!" Shit hit the fan at my command. Almost half of the front lines were wiped out in the initial volley and in the panic, the other half and some of the second line wiped themselves out in the minefield. I finally felt the blood pumping when I fired a round through the chest of an unlucky straggler of the first line.

It's go time. In unison, the town of Goodsprings launched all of their might into this defense. Old and young folk fired bullet after bullet into the convicts never relenting even when the person right next them caught some lead in their heads. All they cared about was felling as many as they could before it was their turn. Most didn't even reach for their dynamite as the close quarter's nature of the fight proved it pretty much useless. Oh, well. Better to have it and not need it. The convicts did what Ringo said they did and used the dynamite as cover so that they could pick people off but the farmers retained the lesson and kept their eyes on the prize while avoiding the explosions and doing a good job of covering each other. I abandoned my post as the rifle ran dry and loosed my pistol and knife from their holsters and got to work. Several farmers fell back to a safer position except for Trudy who I saw catch a pistol butt to the head. Before he could finish the job I put one in his head and rushed to Trudy to help her to safety.

My timing was bad which was good for the three enemies that rushed at me as drug her to the inside of the saloon and they might have caught me if Ringo didn't blow them away with the simultaneous fire of two revolvers. He gave me a thumbs up and a smug wink before moving on. Trudy refused to go in so I set her on the porch behind cover in the hopes she could still do damage. Our Southern defense was really suffering and was beginning to get overwhelmed, luckily for them I was there. I ducked and snuck around their sides amidst the explosions and gunfire and charged them from my position. It was a tight-knit group of five that were making a steady advance and they were covering each other as they reloaded. Impressive but it didn't save them from me. Without warning, I fired into the skull two of them drawing their attention away from the farmers. Before he could face me I had deeply plunged my blade into a shirtless man's chest then manipulated his body to serve as a meat shield from the shotgun blast that nearly punched my ticket. I kicked his corpse into his friend, but not before I could pull my knife out and threw it into the another man's skull. As he pushed his friend off of him he looked up just in time to stare down the barrel of death itself before meeting it face to face.

I was shaking with adrenaline. I needed to find more. And more there were coming from the hill firing wildly in my direction. I booked it after tossing a stick of dynamite at them and wiping out a decent portion while the farmers finished them off. Confident in their abilities to handle it from there I went to the North as they were getting the real brunt of the attack. That is if the dynamite going off was any indicator. On my way, I saw Sunny getting tossed around by an absolutely huge Powder Ganger clad in a kevlar vest. She was fighting hard but he must have damn hard to damage wearing that. I took aim only to have some crazy fucker jump on my back and knock my pistol away. After taking a few knocks to the head he turned me over and attempted to stick a shard of glass he found on the ground into my eye. I stopped it barely a centimeter away before kneeing him in the groin sticking it in his eye instead. Instead of seeing Sunny getting her ass kicked like I expected I saw another Powder Ganger almost break his shotgun over the large man's head before kicking him off her and then turning it into a bloody stump.

He saw me looking confused and reaching for my gun, "Don't shoot! I'm on your side! My names Carl and if you wanna kill me when this over whatever but let me help out." Then he shot the still writhing man I stabbed in the eye. Well, he was okay in my book. He also took off without another word.

"Sunny, you alright?!"

"A-all smiles." She replied with a shit-eating smirk.

"Back at it soldier!" She went to circle around the house and I went through it. In all this, I haven't seen Easy Pete which made me feel like I should brace myself pretty soon.

The enemy has finally closed distance after enduring all the lead we could fling and our minefield. Just as I suspected that's when we started to tip in the other direction of the victory scale. Farmers heads were being bashed and throats were being cut and that's not to say they were all getting killed but a fair few more then I'd like. Swooping in, I killed as many as I could as fast as I could in a whirlwind of knife slashes and lunges and gunshots. One swung at me with a pool cue which I rolled under then stuck him in the back of the knees bringing him to hell as I shot another rushing to his aid then I finished him off with a stab to the back. I got few knocks and cuts myself but I held my own pretty well, a lot better than the people who were dying that's for damn sure. A massive explosion shook the ground and knocked me onto it and for a brief moment, all the fighting stopped. Easy Pete, you old kook. Things seemed to simmer down and I was hearing less fighting. My side was all clear and we had about 8 people left not counting me which made me run off back South to see how they were fairing there.

I made it just in time to see Sunny bludgeon some a man to death with a brick and that seemed to be everyone not taking the 'YEE HAAA!' that echoed in the distance along with the unmistakable sound of lasers and screams. Sounded like Victor joined the fun after all. It came from the Westside of town. They must have wizened up and tried to flank us so it was actually really good that I enlisted his help.

Not wanting to jinx it we all stayed silent. Was it over? Sure felt like 60 convicts died here. Just when I opened my mouth to say the magic words we were startled by the sound engine. Yeah, it was an engine and the sound was coming from over the hill the convicts came from, "Oh, fuck!" I shouted and ran straight North out of the way through in retrospect I suppose a more difficult to navigate direction would have served me better. Upon realizing that I ran up a hill, not daring to look back, towards the largest house in town in the hopes of throwing off the car that was pursuing me. Didn't work, it launched over the hill, landed and charged straight at me. With nowhere to run I did the only thing I could think to do, I aimed and prepared to take what would no doubt be the last shots of my life.

My outstretched arm felt Something like a pinch, then it ran ice cold as if all the blood had drained out then my whole body felt like it was radiating heat, " _Welcome to your very own Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System. Please select a target."_ A feminine yet soulless and synthetic voice offered to me. I had just noticed that everything around me has ceased and that it all had a light green tint. There was a silhouette of a head where the van's windshield was with the '67%' hovering next to it. It would be hard to explain fully but I basically said 'Okay' in my head and that 'confirmed' the target which left only one thing to do. I fired my shot to hear a satisfying 'ping' sound making the car swerve out of its collision course with me and straight through the wall next to me, " _Thank you for using VATS!"_

I walked through the new entrance to see if there were any survivors. Of the wreck of the house. A dull moan of pain was coming from beside the car. It was Chet, his lower half was torn clean off by the car, ain't that coincidental, "P-please… I- don't… I- I- I'm sor- sorry… Help… Please… He-" He died right then and there. I'd say I felt bad for him but that's a straight-faced lie if I've ever told one. It was hilarious actually.

No time to laugh now, however. I had to check the van for survivors. After reloading my pistol I got to it, opening the driver door to see the wheelman lifelessly slumped against the dashboard. I leaned over him to get a look at the rest of the interior which was devoid of life to my pleasant surprise and left me content to mark this as a bonafide victory on our part. Naturally, I stabbed the wheelman a few times in the heart to be safe which seemed to prove unnecessary since he didn't twitch upon the impact.

"Damn I'm good…" I muttered under my breath, pleased at my handiwork while I went to exit the ruined home of it's even more ruined owner. A very distinct click echoed in the silence stopping me from leaving, however, instead I dived out of the way in a knick of time judging by the gunshot sound and the hole the size of my head in the door the was made not a second later. I fired a few vague shots where I suspected it to come from but no dice.

"You think you're some kind of badass don't ya bitch? You think you could _fuck_ with _Joe Cobb_ and get away with it?" Another shot was fired by him into the cabinet I was standing behind, "You have any clue how many soldierin' fuckers I iced back in the prison?" I stayed silent, listening for his footsteps, "This piece right here was pried off the cold dead fingers off a ranger that I strangled to death and you think you're gonna be the one who puts me under?" He sounded like he was nearing an angle to the left of my cover giving him a clear shot so I rolled away and shot where he suppose to be. He wasn't there but in his place was a hard knock upside my head leaving me dazed for a second, "You fucked up…"

My vision was blurred but I saw blood floating mid-air and there's only one thing that could mean, "Stealth Boy…" I kicked his legs out from under him, picked up my knife from the ground and slashed at a random direction were I heard him impact leaving a nice, juicy oozing cut to give away his location. He lost his grip on the revolver allowing me to see it a kick it out of his reach just in time. A jab connected to my stomach and my chin almost making me stumble backward. I had to be extra careful, the difference in skill meant a hell of a lot less when I couldn't see most of the bastard. Had to make due with the slash on his cheek(?). I jabbed forward with the blade knowing aggressiveness was going to decide whether I left this building alive but he sidestepped and attempts to wrestle it out of my hands only to be to thrown to the ground but he caught my hand when I tried to finish him and got a good right hook in making me keep my distance.

Keep it cool. Don't get too worked up, it can only last a limited amount of time I just had to to keep alive in the meantime, "I thought you were some tough guy but you can't kill one chick who can't even see you. Was that note written by your big tough prison boyfriend?" He charged headfirst into a knee to the face sending him reeling opening his stomach to a slash. When I said aggressiveness I didn't mention that I meant his aggressiveness, "You shouldn't hold your breath waiting seeing as I probably killed him among the dozens of other dickheads I killed out there. They all died like bitches by the way." A furious roar from him along with a nearby chair sent sailing in my direction which I ducked under. He took that distraction to try and get a hold of me but instead go a sharp piece of metal in his foot sticking him the ground.

Perfect, taking advantage of his immobilization I used him as a punching bag pounding him every way I could and he was totally defenseless as I did it. After a solid minute of that he gained the strength to throw the hardest left hook he could muster which I saw coming a mile away so I ducked under that, ripped the knife out, uppercut him on the way up and stabbed him three times in the stomach. Just then, he materialized, looking into my eyes in complete defeat, " You're gonna die. How's that for a plot-twist?" I mocked before knocking him to the ground. Was going to end it right off the bat but I heard a whistle. It was his brother, the one who saved Sunny, "Yeah, I get it. Have at 'em." I advised. The last things I and probably Joe Cobb heard were hysterical pleas and the sound of shotgun killing a rodent.

* * *

Death toll: 32 combatants and about six noncombatants. Property damage: Two house's obliterated, four suffering heavy damage and six have some holes and bullet impacts here and there. Other damages: 14 Bighorners are dead, we're bound to have some pretty serious emotional trauma, Easy Pete's stash is gone and Goodsprings has lost it's single greatest supplier, Chet.

But on the on the bright side. We won. Trudy had a concussion, Sunny had a few bumps and bruises, the Doc stayed in his house (but he did find the time to snipe a few from the windows), Easy Pete got his leg busted a little in the shockwave of raising hellfire from his home and Ringo got out without a scratch. Victor was nowhere to be seen which is a little odd.

I would have offered to stay and help rebuild, honestly, I would have but I couldn't spend more time here than I already have.

That left one matter unresolved. Joe Cobb's brother, Carl he said his name was. We had him disarmed and guarded in the Saloon, the place that started this all, "It's his fault that my boys are dead! It's his fault that we lost so many decent folks against a band of savage monsters! I want him dead!" Trudy commanded. Carl sat quietly, accepting his fate no matter what it may be.

Sunny had different ideas, "Trudy, I know but this man regrets what he did. He explained it to me and he didn't want for any of this to happen. He risked his life and killed his own brother because he was disgusted by what they were doing. If we kill him we're no better than Cobb."

Trudy wanted none of it though a pulled kitchen knife from behind the counter, "I'm not discussing this. He's pond scum and I don't want to look at him for one more second!"

I, the third person who cared enough to have an opinion took her blade, "Trudy, what does this accomplish? I'm all for killing people but what does this gain you? The fact is that he saved one of our lives, hell maybe even more than one." I pressed the tip of the blade to his throat, "Say the word and he dies right now. Won't even dirty your own hands. If you think it's the right thing to do say the words, 'I want you to stab him in the throat.' You know I'll do it. You heard me cut the eye out of that surviving convict."

Trudy looked at me with this shaking rage vibrating her whole body. The words were at the tip of her tongue but she wouldn't say it. She couldn't say it, "Damnit…" She swore under breath, "Well, what would he do if we let him go? He gonna find a nice farm and settle down or some crap?"

"I don't know mam. I just know that my brother turned into a psycho and I don't want it happening to me. I was hoping that I could help you people rebuild… As a way to pay you back. I know I can't undo everything I did… But I'd like to try." He sounded sincere and after a long debate in her own head, Trudy allowed it.

I was going to miss this place. The people here really accepted me as their own. It was… An unfamiliar feeling and I dare say I kind of liked it. They said their goodbyes to me.

"Walk tall. You did good by us and if nothin' else you can rest easy knowing you saved a town of people tryin' to live their lives. Here's lookin' at you kid." Easy Pete said before I stepped off his porch one last time.

Then came Ringo, "Don't worry about the money. It's the least I can do. Swing by the Crimson Caravan and we can catch up when you have to chance. You saved my ass, Amelia."

Trudy followed after, "I- I'm so sorry you got twisted up in our drama. Whatever you do now I hope you do well…"

"I don't hesitate to say it. I'll miss you. All that stuff you said about being a bad person… You might believe it but it's not true. One day you'll know that. Shawn says thanks and… Damnit just get that bastard and get out in one piece."

The final goodbye came from the first hello I was greeted with when I returned to the land of the living, "I knew you were special. I have a hunch about those things, just call it a doctors intuition. Remember what I said, dig two graves and do your damnedest to stay out of the one meant for you."

With all the things that needed to be said, said all that was left for me, Amelia Hirst, was the open road, my Pip-Boy and the Powder Gangers van that Ringo fixed up. Checkered suit guy. You bet against the wrong number.


	3. Wild Bill's Rodeo

Wild Bill's Rodeo

* * *

Wyatt

* * *

"Stand up kiddo." He commanded. So I did just that, "Adda boy, now come on. Take another swing, and don't telegraph it so much." I breathed in, I breathed out and I swung as hard as could. He caught it without even taking his eyes off mine. I waited for the hit but it didn't come. I tried to gut punch him but he swatted it away and swept my legs out from under me. His huge boot hovered over my head forcing me to close my eyes.

Again I waited for the hit to come and again it didn't, "W-why aren't you hitting me?"

I stepped back and helped me back up, "I told you kid, this isn't a punishment. You gotta be able to hold your own if you wanna stick with us. And we both know we're your best option."

He was correct. If you asked me six months that I'd be in the Mojave desert running with a group of fugitives. I'd would called you psychotic. Still it was these guys or the business end of an NCR baton, boot or most likely bullet, "I-I just want to go home…" I regretted it saying instantly.

Fuck! You fucking idiot don't say shit like that! They'll kill you over shit like that!

He reached in his duster coat and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. The box was to old to read the label, "Smoke." It wasn't a request, "I know you're probably used to higher class shit but, well, you know."

He scared the hell out of me. He had a reputation and I was well aware of it. And people like me were always targets for him. People like me were his favorite targets. Running into him should have been a death sentence a 'The End'. So why was he being so nice? That was the ten million dollar question and there seemed to be no answer. I've done nothing to make him think any different of me than anyone else yet he's treated me like we were old friends. I never asked because the potential answer seemed scarier than whatever was going on.

"You have potential believe it or not. You're just too hesitant. You're soft." I was already stumbling over my own tongue to defend myself when he waved me down, "No, it's fine. I get it. You never thought you'd be in this situation and you are. It's disorientating. Everyone has a hard time when Madame Violencia enters their life for the first time." He chuckled, "Even me. Christ that was a long time ago."

I still struggled to look him in the eyes though I had improved from day one when where I wouldn't stop begging for my life. I looked out the window watching all those houses we burned down.

Did I kill anyone during all of that? Why did I ask myself that everyday?

He gripped my shoulder to get me to face him, "I know I scare you. I know that I was likely a bogeyman for you when we met. But I give you my word. I am the absolute last person you need to fear in this desert."

I… I had to trust him. I think I did trust him. If he was going to hurt me he would've done it by now. I had to believe that, if nothing else, "I trust you Bill. I do, more than anyone around here at least."

He grinned wide and shook me by the shoulders, "I knew you were a smart kid. Come on. The others aren't sure about you and I have just the way for you to prove them wrong."

* * *

Amelia

* * *

Goodsprings was a distraction. It was amateurish of me to let myself get caught up in all that. That's why after taking off I made a solemn vow. I was not going to let myself get drawn into anyone else's shit. If only I knew how far out the window that plan was going to go.

The desert air rushed through broken windows and whipped my hair into a frenzy. If I had known that I was going to be driving this thing the next day I would have tried to find a way to take it out without forcing it to crash. Regardless, the thing was remarkably well equipped. Food and water were fridge that came up to my waist. Two lockers worth of storage. Sleeping spaces. This isn't even to mention my favorite feature, the fully functioning radio which was tuned into a shitty instrumental rack since it was the only signal I could catch.

I didn't mind it however. The nondescript rhythm allowed for me to comfortably drift into my thoughts. All of which were particularly violent at that moment. And all of that violence was directed towards a certain greased up New Reno reject and his gaggle of nomadic hasbeens. I thought about how I'd save him for last, how I'd put a bullet in his throat with his own gun, how I'd sell it for a cap right afterwards. But I didn't think about how one of those was a lie.

I had passed the prison a short while ago. Just by glancing I could see snipers on the watchtowers ready to pick apart anyone who they deemed a threat. And considering my involvement with their failed raid I more than sure I count as one. Survivors can really fuck with you like that but it's damn hard to kill all the insects when they scatter.

I could see a dilapidated rollercoaster peak out in the distance which was Primms way of saying "Hey, come on over." And I was happy to oblige. I threw the ride into fourth gear and spend the rest of the way there. Upon nearing my destination I noticed a makeshift checkpoint.

The NCR. The largest organized civilization in the West-Coast. Big, pretty and powerful is what they are and it works to their goal of expansion across the whole continent it seems like. They got more people under their thumb than any old raider boss could ever pray to. Being powerful doesn't necessarily mean you're liked however. They never did me any favors and I never pretended to be a stand up citizen.

My car came to a slow and steady halt as I approached the checkpoint which was manned by three boys-in-beige, "Stay right there, miss, state your business." The presumed leader ordered as he tightly clutched his AR-15. They didn't need to be marksmen to get the job done with those things.

"I need to enter Primm on personal business." I replied without a second thought. I've been around enough to know the know the bells and whistles behind these exchanges.

"Are you armed?"

"I have a semi-automatic 9mm pistol with 8 rounds in the magazine and one in the chamber. I also have an uncertain amount in my jacket pocket. That's in the holster and the knife's in the boot."

He seemed surprised about how straightforward. Most wastelanders would be inclined to tell him to go fuck himself and while I'm no exception I was in a hurry, "Very well. You may go back where you came from." He stated before turning his back to me.

I leaned out of the window to find a rifle barrel pressed to my ear. I got real still but continued with what I wanted to say, "Hang on a damn second! I have important business here and I ain't leaving until it's done with!"

The leader stormed towards me with all the rage a bored soldier could muster, "listen here, civie, I have strict orders to keep all none NCR personnel from entering the premises. With deadly force if need be. I don't want to shoot you, but I will. Go home."

My gaze met his and we dueled for a moment before I gave up. I wasn't in the position for this to work in my favor, "Very well, sir." The magic words were all that was needed for him to give his little buddy the signal to put the gun away. I sighed, "Could you at least tell me what is going on over here?"

"A group of escaped convicts have moved in and taken the town hostage. That's all I'm at liberty to discuss." The stoney look in his eye met I truly wouldn't get any gossip from him.

"Well is there anyone who is at liberty?" I asked, fluttering eyes and giving a little smirk.

This time it was him who lost the staring contest, "My superior, Lieutenant Hayes would be the only one who could tell you anything about our mission. But he's on the other end of the camp and like I said, no ones allowed beyond this point."

"What if I told you I could be a real asset in this little war game you got going on?"

He chuckled thus conveying the only real emotion I've seen from him yet, "Good one. I doubt one measly traveler is going to make a mole rat's ass for difference for us, You don't look like a ranger to me."

"You're telling me never brought on a mercenary before?"

"Yes, I am. I don't have the authority to do so. And to be perfectly honest, I wouldn't have the inclination even if I was able to."

"But you aren't. Does your superior like his men making decisions for him?" I phrased the question more like a statement.

With another exasperated sigh he pulled his walkie talkie to his mouth, "Lt. Hayes? Sir, I have woman here who says she can help with our... Problem. Well, I would have but I know that things are tight and help in any form might be something you'd appreciate. Yes sir, I'll send her in." He put the device back on his belt, "Take your vehicle and park it on the side of the road, mam. Then you can go inside. But I'm warning you, if you do anything that can be considered interference we will not hesitate to detain you."

The camp was poorly staffed, no more than a dozen soldiers, most of whom seemed to be below average in both intelligence and experience. Bombed out buildings and tents seemed to be what counted for housing around here. I assumed that this operation wasn't getting all the attention the Bear could afford. There was akrge metal door latched in place flanked by two guards on either side. It was the entrance to Primm, the only visible one anyways. I assumed that Hayes was taking residence in the largest tent and I was correct. I entered unannounced and was surprised by the smoke that came spilling out There he stood, slouched over a poorly-made map of the surrounding area, "Excuse me?" I said.

He took notice of me and turned around so I could see his face. He was dressed in the same brown fatigues all of the troopers wear with the only difference being his dark green cap with the two-headed bear emblazoned on its front. That and his chest armor was carelessly left on the floor and his uniform was unbuttoned, "You the so-called merc? I sure hope you're one of those 'Stronger than they look types'." He spat dismissively with his cigarette hung loosely in his mouth.

"Do you want help or not?" I shot back.

He huffed, "Why do you want to help anyhow? Forgive me if I'm mistaken but most wastelanders don't just go jumping into military situations for no good reason. And I'm sure you know I can't pay you."

"I need to get into Primm. If that means I have to ventilate a few gang bangers then so be it." I paused and thought about whether I should vocalize all I wanted to say, "And that's all that ought to concern you, chief."

The lieutenant gazed at me with his steely eyes as if to inspect me for ill intent before conceding, "I guess that'll have to do." He circled around the table to give me a look. I'll make it short, that town is flooded with escaped prisoners and they have more than we were originally lead to believe. It's the only reason I haven't totally disregarded you entirely. We need just about all we can get. I want you to know that you're not my responsibility and if you get a bullet in the brain I'm not to blame."

"Are we gonna talk about this or what?"

He breathed out a gentle chuckle and traced his finger around a part of the map, "Here, that's the entrance. We have that fortified and guarded at all times. So far the cons haven't made any serious attempts to take us on. That could mean one of two things. Worst case, they have the resources to remain comfortable enough to stay. Best case they aren't confident that they could take us. We managed to snatch one who did attempt to get out but he wouldn't confirm either theory."

"Did you put the screws to him? I could give it a swing."

"Can't, it's illegal for members of the NCR military to torture prisoners of any kind."

"I'm not military."

"Well he's also dead. Managed to get the man watching off guard and had a blade to his throat. No choice but to put him down." He shook his head regrettably, "Brightside, he did give us a little to work with. The cons are primarily holding up in the Bison Steve hotel. And they are being lead by an outlaw named William Ruskin: Nicknamed 'Wild Bill'. Got a rep for being quick on the trigger and notoriously verbose. He killed a number of bounty hunters before being caught up in a raid on an arms dealing operation in the Boneyard. Was dealing to some local anarchists after he got into this huge anti-NCR kick and started fucking with the barons."

"I think I've heard of him. Any other notables?"

"Just him as far as I know. The con did mention somebody named Wyatt. We don't have any sort of prison records on hand so I can't really know who that is. All I do know is that he's made friends with Bill and that he isn't the one-man army type so I don't really care."

"Got'cha." I stayed silent to make sure he was done giving me the rundown. He reached into his pocket to pull out a pack of cigarettes. I took one out as he open the box, "You're in charge here so when do we head out?"

"We don't." He answered whilst lighting me up, "You are slightly less likely to get shot on sight than we are which is why you're gonna be the scout. Head in, see if any of the civilians are breathing and if they are, where. When you've done that I want you to check around for any defensive flaws we can exploit when we move in."

"Oh is that all? You sure you don't want me to just clear the place out all on my own. Maybe I can take the Mojave for you guys while I'm at it."

"Look, you go in, look around, get out. I'm not asking for much. Besides, it might give you a chance do do whatever it is you came here to do."

I still looked away, upset, I hate doing peoples jobs for them, "I want my gun back." He nodded, "And some ammo."

The good lieutenant granted my request for ammo. I was handed two extra clips for my pistol. This would likely be more than enough for a scouting mission.

The gate guards These ones were different than the other soldiers in the camp. They had hard faces as opposed to soft, young ones and they carried those weapons with intent, not fear. Not much compared to a Ranger but it's always interesting to see the contrast from recently arrived conscripts and enlistees to veterans.

When I reached the gate the largest of them stuck and massive meaty hand in front of me, "This area is off limits to unauthorized personnel."

"Hayes sent word I'm being sent here. You know that. Open the door." With a nod the woman stood behind him began unlatching the gate with noticeable effort. Must've been heavy.

Once again he interrupted my attempts to get in with his hand, "I have been instructed to inform you that if you get injured we will be unable to move in and get you out. Not without knowing the situation, that is."

"Wouldn't expect anything more." I sneered before pushing pass him. The town was what I expect of a village under siege. I could just about see the Bison Steve pass all the buildings. I crouched into a nearby alley way knowing that walking out in the open like an idiot was a good way to get shot like one. There was no way of knowing how many of those guys were hanging around and I didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention to myself. The town was small by Pre-Ward standards but that's still plenty of room to run into Powder Gangers. And even more room to fuck up.

The path I took was calm, all things taken into account. Not to imply that I didn't have to hide every now and then. I certainly did but most of the the convicts seemed to be in their hotel. I only ever saw small groups of about four of them. I never managed to find survivors.

All the buildings I entered proved to be dead ends. It seemed that anybody who didn't abandon their homes got killed in them. It was all fairly one-sided as far as I could tell. Sure, you had your occasional dead thug at the doorway, the alley, the street and what have you but they clearly got the jump on this place. It looked to me that the Western part of town got hit the hardest.

Just when it seemed this little scouting mission was a bust I had arrived at the place I actually came to Primm for. The Mojave Express though I was not excited. There was nothing to suggest that this building would be any different. In fact, by that point I would have pleased to find it empty cause that would atleast give me hope that the owner wasn't dead.

Just before I grasped the handle a startling crash could be heard from the inside. Without thinking my weapon was drawn and my back was pressed on the wall opposite of the dead man. My ears perked up at the realization that I could here not one, but two voices inside. They were muffled but intelligible, "-idn't know you were a fucking robotics expert. Were you'd get your degree? Cocksucker University?" As he got more heated I inched the door open.

"You want the robot or not? Just think about it. We won't be taking orders from that fucking wannabe outlaw anymore." A little more, I needed to be able see what they were packing before I barged in all willy nilly.

"If he's such a pussy why'd you shit your pants when he pulled his gun on you the other day?"

"Because he had a goddamn hand cannon with my nose in the barrel. Pussy or no pussy that isn't the time flex."

"Face it, you're a bitch, I'm a bitch and he could kill us no problem."

With that rebuttal the sound of metal being flung across the room could be heard and I could see him get up to face his pal, "Alright! Fine, he's a big damn spooky son of a bitch and he scares the shit out of me, that's why I ain't doing this. Little fella here is."

I barged the door open which knocked the above leader of this conspiracy over. Not missing a beat my foot stomped into the back of the other gentlemans knee keeling him over. Then I backed up and leveled my pistol their way. I would have fired but their argument peaked my ever misguided curiosity, "Hey fellas. What's going on over here?" They both looked down without a word, "Come on, you were plenty talkative a moment ago." Again, no response. My eye was drawn to what lies behind them. A robot, just as he said but this was one not like I've ever seen.

It was relatively smaller than most, in a ball shape like a Mr. Handy but without any of the limbs or eyes. On the front was a 'grill' for a lack of a better descriptor with a tiny satellite dish above and what appeared to be a speaker below. It's back was protruding with what I'd call metallic whiskers and a large antenna. Without turning my back to the cons I moved to inspect it closer. Little thing was beat up something fierce. Dent's scattered about the chassis like acne and various stickers and pieces of scrap metal that must have been used to cover large holes. The most notable ones being a bumper sticker proclaiming someone's kid was an honor student and the other was a licence plate that read "2ED-E59". Whatever the hell it was it had seen a lot.

I couldn't help but notice that these thugs had opened the side with various tools scattered about which gave me an idea. I stuck my pistol right in there which made them jump up immediately, "Wait! Wait! Wait! Stop!" They shouted frantically.

The click of the safety going off shut them up, "What's going on here! Why is this thing so important to you?"

They looked at each other before the leader spoke up. He looked surprisingly intelligent in a thuggish sort of way, "That little bot is part of our plan. The de facto boss around here: Wi-"

"Wild Bill, yes I know."

"Oh, sweet. That guy is ahhh… Well he's a-"

"He's the biggest shiteater out of a brown uniform. He thinks he wants to kill us. Well, more him than us. I'm more guilty by association." His friend spoke up. He was little bigger and a little prettier than his friend. Still not along the lines I saw in those Powder Gangers in Goodsprings.

"Yeah. But the deal is he's also real good at killing people. And that's what passes for leadership in that funhouse. We like to think that we could a better job. Problem is that when I raised my problem with how he runs things he pressed that stupid fucking revolver he loves flashing so much in my face."

"Get to the point."

"Right, my thinking is that while any attempts at killing him by ourselves would end in getting a brass castration. He wouldn't see it coming if that cute little guy went crazy."

"Not sure I follow."

Just as the "smart" one opened his mouth to continue to not say anything is friend butted in, "Clark thinks that if he can get working again it'll do what we say and kill Wild Bill. Say's that the speaker thing is actually a powerful laser gun and that armor is way more sturdy than anything he's seen off a Securitron. We give it to Bill as a gift. It kills him when we're alone in a room with him. Pass it off and say we did it an-"

"And we use the resulting power vacuum to take over ourselves. A Trojan horse in a way. It's all about might makes right in there."

"And then what?"

"Then I take over and… Well I have a couple dozen men to back us up."

"Fuck you, Clark, they'd listen to me way before they do you. You're the biggest bitch in that joint. Only reason Bill hasn't pulled your tongue out through your belly button is because you're the only one there who can make heads or tails of what to do with the electric closet."

"I know he would that's what the point in this is. Pull your head out of your ass for a minute. Big Boss Matt. Fucking laughable."

Entertaining as I found this I stopped them before they could start it, "Boys! None of this matters. The NCR is moving in pretty soon and they're not likely to take the same prisoners twice."

The smartass giggled about that one, "Right, we've been here for a week and a half and they haven't so much as fired a potshot at us unless some retard literally tries to march through the gate."

"Whatever you say. I'm the one with the gun and you're about to bring a swift conclusion to my scouting mission. But first…" My drifted back over to the robot, "Were you getting anywhere with that robot?"

Clark smirked clearly proud of himself, "Yeah, little dude had a rifle round punch through him. I fished it out and have been repairing him over the past few days. Been hard to keep him secret. All that's left would be is to-" He finally shut up when he saw me do just what he was about to explain. Not to imply I am robotics expert myself but the way the tools were positioned it was clear what I had to do.

After I put the side back on I stepped back cautiously. At first nothing seemed to change but a subtle rattle of the floorboards proved that was not the case. The rattle grew to so that the thing was visibly vibrating while making a rapid series of beeps in every tone I could imagine. The voices came next. It exclaimed unrelated messages in different voices like a radio was having a seizure, "Our boys on th- Purchase war bonds! It's wh- Aaaannndddd it's out of th-" Before the broadcasts started sharing consistency in the voice department, "We live a age of poverty, gre- I AM your preside- The so called Broth- Rural Kentucky- Baseball will live again!- Honey- Autumn- Eden- God bless the- God Bless America!" With the final message out of the way it shot up off the ground without warning.

It looked all around, scanning the environment, "Robot?" It ignored me still looking in every possible angle. With my weapon still grasped I reached to touch it. The very instant my finger made contact it spun around impossibly fast and fired laser right at my face. I dropped to floor just in time and shot it but the bullet bounced off harmlessly. It then shot the ground I layed on just after I rolled away. I stood up and fired three more shots which did little more than piss it off. Predicting as much I hoped over the counter again narrowly avoiding getting charred. What I didn't predict is that it was smart.

When I landed on my feet I turned to continue and pick away at it, after all he couldn't be invincible. Instead of attempting to shoot me once again it rushed into me, pinning me against the wall. It then slammed into me several more times. I slide to the ground in pain and my pistol was out of my reach and directly in my face was a bulletproof flying deathball that was pissed off at me. I was not confident in my ability to take a shot to the head from it.

It hovered over me, ominously and doing a great job at intimidating me. Or it would have if I hadn't noticed something very peculiar. It was shaking. Not like it's thrusters were damaged, in fact I couldn't see any thrusters but like it was shivering, for a human comparison. Like it was… Scared. I never thought that to be possible nor was entirely convinced in that moment but it had to clear advantage and I was lacking on options. I reached my hand out once more and made it quite clear that I was doing so. At first it pulled away but I tried again and got closer before it jumped back, this continued until I laid my hand on it's grill which seemed to have calmed it down a little.

"H-hey there. I'm Amelia. I fixed you up. You were in bad shape. What's your name little… Fella?" I chuckled to myself over how ridiculous this seemed.

I don't know what I expected but I got seemingly nonsensical beeps in return, "BRRRR NAAHHHHHH."

"Y-you don't know? That sucks." Funny thing is that I understood that. It's a communication system used by a few robots in the military back before the war. I stood up and looked at him or a moment. My attention was brought back to his licence plate and for whatever reason part of it just stuck with me, "How about… Eddy?" It, or I guess he, tilted his head or body or whatever in way that I suppose was to indicate confusion, "You know like on your plate. ED-E. Yeah, ED-E. You like that?" He was still for a moment.

"SUU WRR!" He exclaimed while spinning and bobbing up and down bringing an honest to god laugh out of me.

"Hey lady, I'd hate to interrupt your little moment. But could you tell that thing to not shoot us. We'll come quietly."

They did just as they said. Stayed infront of me, no sudden movements, no pretending to tie their shoes. Before we left I had to talk ED-E into behaving around the camp. I knocked a few times on the gate to the camp, "Password?" The guard said.

"People trying to break out of places don't knock." I replied which he deemed passable. I made my way back to Hayes' tent all the while getting suspicious looks from the soldiers, can't say I was surprised. Leaving and coming back with two thugs and a robot would be bound to raise some eyebrows, "Hayes, I just made our lives easier." I said as I walked in like I owned the place. It seemed to bother him.

"I highly doubt you were able both search for survivors and probe the place for weaknesses in under an hour. Why are you here?" He growled before bothering to turn around. The sight of two guilty looking thugs made him jump and almost grab his sidearm, "How the hell are these guys?"

"I found them dicking around in the Mojave Express office. They kindly agreed to come with me. My thinking is that they can easily tell you everything you need to know. And no knife twisting will be necessary."

"That so…" He mumbled, unconvinced. He grabbed them both and pushed them down on the sleeping bag on the floor, "Ms…."

"Amel-"

"Amelia! Right, please step outside for a moment. I'd like them to feel a little bit less comfortable when I question them."

I threw my hands, "Eye eye captain." Then I backed out

* * *

Hayes

* * *

Very little made me happy these days, but having two thugs shaking in their boots right in front of me was certainly one of them. Without a word I quickly fished in my loose shirt for a cigarette causing them to flinch, "Smoke?" I asked.

"I-I could really use one sir." The small one stuttered out.

"Sorry, only have one." I fibbed. After taking a good long time lighting it I leaned forward to meet their eyes, "What are your names?"

"My name is Matthew and he's Clark." The slightly larger one was notably less nervous than his friend. Not by much but it was enough for me to direct myself to him more.

"What are you both in for. Something tells me that you were just as much buddies out of the system as you were in." They looked to each other as if they were debating whether or not they should answer, "Fellas, you don't get to decide if you answer that."

Matthew narrowed his eyes, "Tax evasion. And in case you're wonderi-"

In flash I was up, looming over them like they were toddlers. With a huff I circled around the table behind me to fetch my flask. Then I was back in my chair and sipping it like it was fine wine. Fine wine it certainly was not, "You were saying?"

"Nevermind…" He mumbled.

"Something tells me you weren't the toughest guys in the joint."

"No we tri-"

"Shut the fuck up, dumbass!" Matthew whisper screamed after he smacked Clark over the head.

"No, go on. I'd like to hear it."

Again they looked at eachother but this time I let it slide. This staring contest ended with Matthew shaking his head before Clark reluctantly continued, "After the breakout the prisoners split into groups. Four, to be precise. There was Eddie who thought it'd be best to hole up in the prison. Nice and defensible he said. He got the majority behind him, typical types, you know the sort. Then Joe Cobb wanted to start a gang, like the Fiends, little lighter on the drugs of course. He also had a lot of boys behind him. They were more psychopathic ones. Wild Bill wanted to take over Primm to sort of make it a little haven for all opposed to the NCR. Then there was Samuel Cooke who led the breakout, he broke off with the smallest group."

I rolled my eyes at how long he droned on for, "Get to the point, punk." I sternly ordered.

"I'm trying!"

Matthew found himself taking over once more, "The point is this. We fucking hate the NCR after what they did to us. After breaking out we wanted in on some anti-NCR action. Eddie just wanted to dick around in the prison and Joe was a damn psycho. We wanted to go with Samuel, dude was a damned legend. He didn't think we were tough enough and wouldn't take us on. Bill was the next best thing."

"So you're pussies. Could have just said that. Least you answered at least three questions in that little story. Two more questions. Whose Wyatt?"

Confusion became a momentary replacement for their nervous dispositions, "Wyatt? Who the fuck cares?"

"I care. One of your buddies brought him up like he was important."

"Which 'buddy' would that be? We have several buddies wh-"

"Theodore? Theo? Ringing any bells?"

"Ah, yes. Theodore, makes sense. Wyatt is… How do I put this? A bitch, weak, it's a miracle he didn't die in the breakout. Surprised anyone took him on but Bill said something about liking his last name so he brought him aboard."

"What's his last name?"

"I am remiss to say that I don't know. My memory is fleeting. Anyhow, Wild Bill has been keeping a leash on the kid. Said anyone who lays a finger on him answers to his gun. No clue why. Must have felt bad for him and took him under his wing.. He's even weaker than we are. I can run the equipment, Matthew can do maintenance we serve purposes but Wyatt? He's worthless. Only reason he's still around is because he has the Wild Bill seal of protection." Holy fuck he liked to talk.

"Well, that's truly tragic but I only wanted to know if he's dangerous. Now, last question. Do you want to help us take back that town? Because the way you do that is by helping us make a plan of attack."

"Why would wanna do that?"

"Yeah, we made it relatively clear that we don't much appreciate you jackboots very much. What could possibly be in it for us? You know, we had plans before your girlfriend showed up."

I had finally had enough of this smartass, "You know, they say brevity is the soul of wit."

"W-what do you mean?"

I was right in his face as I breathed these words at him, "Shut - the - fuck - up." I then pulled out my Glock and switched the safety off, "And you didn't let me finish. Do want to help us or do you want to be executed?"

"W-will you let us go if we help you?" The succinct one managed to squeak out as he cowered on the ground.

"I won't kill you."

"You'll let us go?"

"I won't kill you."

"Oh… Well, show me the map then."

* * *

Amelia

* * *

Just before I was about to walk away from boredom the tent flat opened. With Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dummer marching out with that scared puppy dog look, "You two, escort our friends to the holding cells." He ordered to two soldiers who were playing a game of Caravan nearby.

They both examined the area before looking to their superior, "But sir, we don't have holding cells."

"Do you have guns?" They both nodded, "Do you see a building?" Again they nodded, "Then we have holding cells. Make sure they don't do anything dumb."

Then he turned to me, "You did what was asked of you and for that you have my thanks. Have you done what you've needed to do?"

"No, haven't been able to find any survivors."

"The prisoners you brought me have told me that there are some in fact. They're holding up in the Vikki & Vance casino. Quite a few from what they said. Whoever you're looking for, they must be in there."

"Really? Well, atleast something's going my way. I presume you don't mind if I go back into town?"

"Nope, go on ahead. Try to kill a convict for me while your in there."

Not much changed as I walked back up that route I took last time from the fact that I had company, "WEEE RRR DRRRRR?"

"I'm looking for someone."

"WRRRR?"

"Because he shot me."

"WRRRR?"

"Don't know for sure. All I know for certain is he wanted this poker chip I was carrying. So to find him I have to ask around here to see where he went."

"ROWWW ZRRRR?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna kill him."

"ZEEEEE!" He shouted as he bobbed all over the place. Made me a tad nervous.

"Quiet down now. I don't want to spoke the locals." We approached the casino, slowly rounding the corner to find a man sat in wooden chair facing the doorway along with two big men dressed in the typical Powder Ganger garb. One was holding a fire axe and the other a submachine gun, "Come on, old man what's it gonna be this time?" The Axe wielder questioned the door though I couldn't hear a response, "We go back to Ol' Wild Bill empty handed he might take things to a level you don't want it to get to. You don't wanna draw straws again do you?" I slowly creeped up on them which I allowed me to just about hear what the response was this time.

"Please, you know we're running out of things to hand over. Can't you just pick through the rest of town? 'Till we can find more to give?"

"You know that ain't an option. If you don't pick imma take this gun and empty the entire fuckin' clip into that door, again." Now that I was close enough I took my knife and stabbed him in the back of his head. His shocked gasp caused his buddy to turn around but ED-E slammed the asshole into the door and pinned him for me to press my gun to his head.

"W-wait…" He pleaded before I made sure he never could again. I looked to around to see if the ruckus attracted any unwanted attention. No one in sight but a man slouched in a chair. He was obviously dead.

He was older, moustached man with a badge pinned on his brown shirt, "This must've been the sheriff. Throat slashed, bruises all over, cuts all over, detached retinas, missing fingers… You unlucky bastard. They must've caught him alive, made an example." In playing detective I negated to acknowledge the cute little sign on his chest, "SAME GOES TO ANYONE WHO WANTS TO PLAY REVOLUTION." It read written in crayon funnily enough. Guess blood would have been too melodramatic, "Well, let's meet the locals."

Not really sure how I was supposed to proceed with this I knocked on the door casually. How far would that would take me? I was surprised that the door opened cracked open moments later, "You don't look like convict." A scared, gentle voice noted.

"I'm not."

"Maybe so, but how can I be sure you won't try and hurt us?"

"Would I have knocked if that was my intention?"

He paused and peaked his out a little, "I suppose not. You can come on in. But don't cause any trouble… Please." Then he opened the door. He was small, frail looking older gentleman dressed in a scrappy but generally decent tan suit, "Welcome to my establishment." Place was trashed to put it bluntly. Garbage in corner, sad people milling about doing fuck all, half the slot machines were broken, the poker table that weren't flipped over and smashed to pieces were overflowing with empty bottles, holes in the walls and I am sure I saw a dead person by the cashout counter. I couldn't shake the deja vu I was feeling. It made sense that I've been here before, sure. But it felt as though something relatively significant happened to in this building. I could only hope that the feeling would pass, "Names Frank, Frank Gerst. Owner of a casino turned refugee camp. You might be…" He inquired as he took of his thin brimmed hat.

"Amelia, I'm a courier. Do you know anything about a man who passed through recently? Slick black hair, checkered suit, some Great Khans, talks like cartoon character?"

He itched his face and looked at the ceiling for a moment, "I might have. I don't interact with the customers much. That's Lani's territory."

"Can I talk to her? Where is she?"

"She was in the Bison & Steve when those thugs hit town… She didn't make it out." He confirmed with a sad certainty.

"Sorry to hear that."

"Me to, she was good at her job. Really nice girl. Bit dim but hey, don't we all have flaws? Take my security for example, about half of them up and ran out of the building when those punks marched into town. The majority of the other half got gunned down trying to stop these pricks. A few got killed not too long after. People starting flooding here for shelter and they tried to keep the crowd organized. Now I got about 3 or 4 left and the only reason they stuck around is because they're still getting paid. Moral of the story?"

"Your guards are all either inept or cowardly?"

"No, I'm a shit judge of character!" He burst out laughing though I failed to find the same enthusiasm. When he settled down he pointed in the direction of a lone black man sitting at the bar towards the back of the casino, "He's the man who runs the Mojave Express. If your jobs got anything to do with whoever you're looking for you might wanna speak to him."

"Thanks, Frank." I smacked him on the back almost knocking him off balance. The man, my boss I suppose, was nursing a cup full of gin. Or I think it was gin. That's what the bottle closest to him claimed to be. I hopped up on the counter next to him and kicked the it a few times to gain his attention.

"Would you stop that…" He requested not looking up from his drink.

"I'm gonna need to burrow a moment of your time."

"And I'm going to have to ask you to leave me alone, missy." A glance up from the glass and at my face set him on his feet in an instant. The very moment I saw his snub-nose clear his holster my gun was in my hand and pointed at his face while his looking primed to shoot me in the chest.

"BRAA BEEDLE BRRRR!" ED-E growled as he charged up his laser.

"ED-E no! Stay!"

"Oh, so you're gonna steal my robot to add insult injury. You damned ingrate!"

"Come down old man…" I said in a calm and level tone, "You wanna start a gunfight in here for no reason?"

"You wouldn't be the first person to get shot in here this week." He was unfazed. Despite his age he looked to be a rough man. Tall, broad, hard leathery skin and this steely gaze that was unfaltered by the weapon he was staring down.

"Well that is hardly necessary. I just want to ask you a question and I'll be on my way. I'm not looking to fight you, mister."

"Don't mister me! You know my name and you sure as hell can pronounce it, so use it."

"No, I don't."

He lost that sureness to his stance, "I ain't senile jackass. Don't treat me like I am."

"I swear to you. I don't know why you're mad at me. But I am just a swell gal when you get to know me. I got shot in the head and I seem to have forgotten everything shortly before that. Whatever I did to piss you off I'm sorry."

"So you really think I'm stupid don't you? I've heard that one before."

"You know what a bullet wound looks like?"

"Obviously…"

"Well look at mine. If your so sure that is." A smug grin joined that last comment. He snarled in response.

"I ain't doing anything 'till you put that damn thing down." I nodded slowly and handed him my pistol even moreso. I brushed my hair aside to show the two scars where Benny's bullets impacted my skull. The old man's face relaxed ever-so-slightly but his gun was still trained on me. He reached for my forehead with his calloused fingers to asses their authenticity. With a slight touch his hand jumped back and the barrel of the revolver was at last not aimed my way, "I'll be damned. You aren't lying…" He mused before shaking his head and finding another antagonistic expression, "Doesn't change what you did and if you did it once you can do it again."

"Will you at least tell me what I did? I know I worked here before all of this but that's it."

"Unbelievable, you really can't remember. Tell me, Miss Amnesia, do you ever get the inclination to kill innocent people? People who aren't harming you? People you didn't even look in the eye? That sound like something you'd enjoy?" With each question he got closer to me until he as a nose length away from me.

I finally had enough games and shoved him away, "Goddamnit old man! What the fuck did I do?! Riddles aren't doing anything but wasting my time and yours! And you already look like you're about to keel over any second now."

We both stared at each other for another few seconds which felt like a solid minute before he chuckled, just once but it broke the tension, "There was a boy working for me, you two would actually be co-workers I suppose. In fact you were damn near friendly to each other. You killed him. Shot him right in the head for no reason while you were sharing a smoke. Walked away like it didn't matter, like it didn't even phase you. Sound familiar, miss?" The way he filled every syllable of his last sentence with venom let me know he wasn't joking. So if that was so why couldn't I recall this in the slightest? Nothing, not even a vague recollection.

I thought about lying and saying yes or saying I was sorry but I didn't. I didn't need to complicate this anymore than it already was, "No, it doesn't."

"Hmpf, that's probably because it didn't mean much to you. And the names Johnny Nash, so no more 'old man' crap." He took his seat back and went right back to his drink which miraculously didn't spill in any of what transpired, "What do you want, Amelia? I know you're not here to check in on me."

"At last we're in agreement. I'm looking for the asshole who shot me."

"And why do I care?"

"Because he stole the object I was trying to deliverer. Hate me as much as ya want you still need the money."

"Welp, I never accused you of being stupid. What exactly can I help you with."

"Simple, he came through this way and I just wanna know whether or not you saw him. Checkered suit, Great Khans up his ass. Sound like something you've seen?"

"Ha! Now that's funny! You was with the very same man when you shot Dan. Looks like you got what was coming to you after all. Just wish I coulda done in the sack a' shit myself."

"Back up Mr. Nash… You're saying me and him were…"

"Pals it looked like, can't say for sure. I was watching from my window when it happened. You and him walked out of the V&V, stopped over by Dan after I sent him out for the job. You and your friends talked to him for a bit, the pretty boy whispered something in your ear and just like that: Blam! Shot em like a wounded dog. I woulda done something but seeing as there was four of you and one of me I did all I could. Talked to the sheriff when you left. Said there wasn't much to be done with no evidence and the fact that you both already left town. I figured I'd never see you again. Unfortunately that wasn't the case."

"I-I don't recall any of that. I-is there anything else you can tell me? Anything at all?"

"Yes, actually. Your friend ca-"

"Not my friend."

"Your friend came here about a day before this all happened. Walked back in like he owned the place, not a care in the world that he was an accessory to murder. Still had his Khans too. So I went back to the sheriff and as useless as he ever was he appoints the deputy to this job. Now Beagle only had the job because he looked the part well enough and because he was the sheriff's brother-in-law." He paused and sipped his drink. Seeing this got me thirsty so I reached over to the bottle next to him but he snatched it before I could and emptied the rest of it into his glass, "'No evidence' said the sheriff so Beagle set out to acquire some. Followed those boys around the whole day, taking notes. I guess he figured this was his time to shine. Those men came and went and all those notes he took were useless. But he held onto 'Maybe they'll be back' was his reasoning. If you want to find out where your friend went that's your very best bet."

"Great, where is he."

"In the Bison & Steve." Johnny informed like he was telling me what the time was. A sly smirk creeped up on his face, "He was doing some 'scouting' around the Bison Steve a little after it got taken over. He got snatched up in a little under a minute. Damn idiot, he had a gun! Dude who got him managed to swing a bat into him. How's that even possible?"

"Are you trying to tell me he's dead?"

"It's not unlikely. But, if he was dead I assume they woulda dragged his body out infront the V&V like they did his brother-in-law. There's a chance they didn't off him yet and are just beating the hell out of him. You might have time."

"Shit, of course! Of fucking course! Come on ED-E." I whined while storming away.

"Hey! Is that my robot?! Goddamnit!"

With all the petulance of a child who just broke their favorite toy I slammed the doors open and after giving ED-E barely enough time to get out I slammed them shut. After I turned around to walk away a bullet grazed my arm. The door was locked. I found that out quickly and I was completely out in the open. So I dived infront of the late sheriff and just out of the way of the bullet that pierced the door instead of my head. That was the best cover I could see, "Bill's not gonna be happy about what you guys did!"

I had no clue where he was except that he was above me. With that knowledge I decided to see just how good a partner ED-E was, "ED-E, I'm going to distract this guy so you get an angle. Understand?"

"SUU WRRR!" He hummed before taking off. I took the corpse's arm and tossed to the left which brought a bullet zooming by just above it. That fact that he was a half decent shot joined my character profile for this man. Scanning the environment brought the awareness of a car a short sprint away and I ran that distance easily enough while I fired wildly at where I assumed the convict was holding up. Soon after I reached the car it was meant with a rapid series of plinks, "Stop moving! Your running my coun- What th- Oh! Ah! Arghhhh!" His screams all but completely drowned out the sound ED-E's blaster firing into him.

"BRRR ZAAAA!"

"Come on before more show up!" I screamed while sprinting back to the NCR camp, "Lt. Heyes!"

"Miss Amelia, stop barging in without permission! You do it again and I'll have you removed. State your business."

"When do you think you'll be moving against the Powder Gangers?"

I look up from the his map, "You know perfectly well that I can't tell you that. You did what I asked and Iet you do what you came here to do. Our business is concluded."

"I wanna help you in taking the town."

And why would that be? And this time I'm going to need an actual answer."

"I need to talk to someone and he happens to be held captive by the Powder Gangers at the moment. So let's talk turkey. Don't tell me you don't need my help."

The Lt. took off his beret and tossed it onto his rucksack and lifted his flask to his lips. It was empty he soon learned, "The situation is worse than we thought. Wild Bill has those Powder Ganger running a tight ship. He's got people watching all sides of town day and night. You can slip past easy enough but a whole platoon? No, a fights going to happen. No way around it."

"And you'll need any help you can get."

"Hmm… Our numbers are roughly equal so having a capable ally would do a lot to turn the tide. You have been in large-scale firefight, right?"

"You could say that."

He breathed a tired sigh, "This vague thing you're doing here is not as cute as you think seem to think it is." Hayes went quiet again. He seemed to have a habit of just stopping mid-conversation. It was rude, "Fine, but you have to follow every single one of my orders. At this point you're taking part in official military action. Insubordination will be considered an attempt at interference and I'll be forced to arrest you."

"Yeah sure, what's the plan."

"Miss Amelia," He slammed his hand on the desk, "I'm not joking. You have to say you understand, no 'cute' comments, no 'clever' remarks."

"Yes sir. I'll do what I'm told…" Pause for effect, "Now can you please tell me the game plan is?"

"I have to consult my major first then I'll be explaining the whole plan to my men. Sit tight until then." I'm not patient. I get bored easily, always have. In knowing this I decided that I'd best get started sooner rather than later on finding some entertainment.

* * *

Wyatt

* * *

I stood over the deputy with a rusty knife in my hand and I had been told to cut off one of his fingers. Despite doing my best to keep my hesitance on the inside I couldn't help but shake at the prospect, "Come on you pussy. Do it!" My brain screamed at me, "He's watching. It's you or this guy!" I crouched down behind him and firmly gripped the captives bound hands which made him attempt to jump away. With a few deep breaths my knife was pressed to his thumb hard enough to draw blood. His screams of terror and barely audible pleas reminded me of… Of that soldier.

I tried to press on but I physically couldn't will myself to go one with it. It felt as though hours had passed before he came over to me. I closed my eyes expecting to get hit but instead my shirt was pulled up and me with it, "Wyatt, I can't protect you in here if you don't prove yourself. There's only so much my authority is worth when I'm protecting someone who can't even draw a little blood." His breath reeked of shitty booze. I could see some on his thick moustache.

I fumbled to find words whenever I spoke to him. It only got worse after he started wearing that damn duster coat. Jesus, it still had dried blood from that sheriff, "B-but I… I k-kil… I-"

He threw his hand up to shush me causing me to flinch. I don't know why I kept doing that, he never hit me. Not even once, "I know you did. That's the only reason I saw fit to let you aboard. Cause I know you have it in you. But the others? Well, you know." He chuckled suspiciously, "You have to prove yourself to them. Otherwise one day when I'm not looking you might piss off the wrong person. Someone at some point is going to try and call my bluff and it's your job to make sure they don't have to. They'll kill you if you don't harden up."

My eyes widened with completely unwarranted panic. It was just me, him and the deputy in the room but what he just implied made me feel like someone just pressed a gun against my head, "Y-you won't let that happen! Will you?"

He brushed off my worries with a deep, hearty laughter, "Relax, son. Relax. Wild Bill is a fair man. That's why he's taking so much time out of his day to help you out." He pulled out his own, sharpened hunting knife and handed and pressed it into my chest hilt first, "But you do have to prove I'm not just wasting my time." The smirk he wore the entire conversation faded and was replaced with this deadly seriousness, "Do what you have to do to survive. You're not a city boy anymore."

With a slight pause I took the knife looking him in the eye as I did. Sort of as to say 'I got this'. Every footstep on the way over to the bound man was slow and deliberate not out of a desire to draw this out or to scare him. I had to make sure that I acknowledged the gravity of what I was going to do. Without near as much hesitation I was back behind the deputy. He seemed unaware of any change from last time as he did not struggle.

It was so fast I barely realized that I had already done it. A quick flick was all it took and like that his index finger was on floor behind him and he was screaming like a banshee into a pillow. He rolled on the floor choking on his tears and I picked up the finger to present to Wild Bill, still not quite sure how to feel. His face glowed with pride as if I were his child. I almost forgot for a moment that my dad once took precautions so that this very man didn't damage his livelihood.

"Adda boy!" He exclaimed before smacking me on the back so hard I dropped the finger. He was quick to swoop it up before dragging me out of the room and to the cafeteria, leaving the deputy to his painful wails, "Boys!" The shout boomed throughout the large room were most of the Powder Gangers liked to hangout, "Our friend Wyatt here just popped his goddamn cherry!" Then he held up the finger which brought a thunderous roar from the thirty or so men while they slammed on the tables, floor and the clinking of their drinks, "See son? I told you I knew what I was talking about."

It was odd. I don't think I've ever had praise this genuine and it was coming from people that used to scare the shit out of me. From a man who kept me up at night as a kid. I've only been here a few days and yet it was… Nice, "If you think this is nice just wait till tomorrow." He whispered in that voice that gave me a chill down my spine.

"W-what happens tomorrow?"

"No spoilers but it'll be a big milestone. You won't like it a first but you'll thank me." The refusal to tell me worried me. I knew it wouldn't be pleasant but, well, neither was this whole situation. But Bill seemed to be helping me make the best out of it. I put doing this off for days and after finally getting it over with I'm almost glad I did it, "Wyatt Holdings. Right-hand man of Wild Bill. That'll make headlines, won't it?" I got a chuckle at that mental image. Maybe Wild Bill knew what was best for me. That wasn't a thing I'd normally say but hey, this is the new normal I guess.

* * *

Amelia

* * *

The clock had struck midnight which by the laws of cliche meant it was time to move out. The plan was simple as far as military assaults go. One squad of five would make their way to the hotel from the West part of town where the small, poor house were. These were the quote unquote "Elites" composed of three of the platoon's resident veterans and me. I blushed at the prospect. Hayes was to guide the central group of twenty or so to the hotel parking lot were the primary offensive was to take place. Clear lines of sight, lots of cover and most importantly, well lit. They keep the pressure on themselves while we slip in and and do our thing.

Heyes' group made it a point to announce their presence while we cut through through the chain link fence. I could already hear the gunshots on the other side of town, "Keep it quiet. Don't shoot unless necessary until we get the target." The largest of us and the man in charge, Colonel McGee, ordered for about the fifth time.

I had ED-E as an eye in the sky as we made our way through the tiny, burnt out homes, "BRAAA…" My Pip-Boy echoed.

"ED-E says there's a guy perched on the rollercoaster with this place in sights." I had the thing tap into my Pip-Boys radio waves so that we could communicate over a distance.

"Carver get your your rifle on those tracks." Carver crawled out from behind the house and did as told, "You see him?"

"Yes sir."

"You have that suppressor on?" He nodded, "Fire." Before the he could even finish the word the trigger was pulled and the sniper crumbled into the darkness both figuratively and literally.

"Anyone else ED-E?"

"BRRR."

"Well, keep your… Optic's? Yeah, sure. Keep your optics peeled."

The fight from the parking lot ended sooner than Heyes predicted. Not as many men actually came out to fight as he hoped. We could see that the soldiers were already moving in, granted, with less men than they started with. Now they were rushing the entrance. McGee insisted that the plan didn't change and I agreed. The lack of people rushing outside suggested one of two things. Either the Powder Gangers are scared to come out or Wild Bills confident that they can take them, "Always assume the worst, Amy…" I could hear it clear as day.

At last we reached the side service entrance and to our lack of shock it was locked, "Get ready to breach everyone." McGee commanded. We all took the positions we rehearsed back at the camp and Luke pulled out his shotgun and took aim at the the lock.

"Three! Two! One!" The thunder of his shotgun was immediately followed with his boot. Two men were behind that door on of which was wounded by the shells piercing the door and the other looking awful confused before he was utterly destroyed.

"Everyone to their assigned areas now!" We broke up into teams of three. Carver and Luke to the basement level, McGee and Charlie to the the first floor to flank the convicts and assist the the assault and me and ED-E to the upper floor.

* * *

Wyatt.

I had a pistol in my hand and I was certainly firing it. But I'm fairly certain I was aiming at anyone. Wild Bill didn't notice, "Yee hawww!" He had his customized revolver in one hand and some other hand-cannon in the other and was just firing away with incredible accuracy. My mind went back to breakout. Red lights flashing, explosion and bullets flying everywhere. I saw him strut up to a cluster of guards. His revolver raised at the hip. Six rounds, six dead men and two seconds between them. His line of sight was a No Man's Land. Every man that came into view was taken out of the fight.

This time the battle was less one sided. Once things got going it was clear the inmates were on the winning side but today? I didn't know.

Am I gonna get shot? Are they gonna capture me?

Thoughts like that raced everytime one of our own fell.

This mini panic attack I was having stopped when everyone went quiet and I heard a metallic thump, "Get down kid!" Bill screamed while tackling me to the ground. I went deaf for short period of time but I could see clear as day a couple of our guys stumbling about covering their faces almost unaware of the advancing jack-boots. Jack-boots? I think I picked up some of the lingo around here.

Regardless Bill was unperturbed it seemed and was right back to firing. Two troops who made it up the stairs were sent right back down, with a bullet to the head each, "We have to get out of here, Wyatt." He whispered, "Everyone stay your ground! Ain't the first troops we killed!" I was clueless so I simply followed him as he walked away. If I were just watching him I wouldn't know there was a gunfight going on at our front door. That is, until he waltzed to the interior balcony overlooking the front lobby. The fighting was thick here so we ducked down as we navigated while he shouted commands at the Powder Gangers taking cover behind overturned dressers and such, "Keep the pressure on! Watch that left hall! Our boys don't need any more heat than they already have! I'll end this before things get too crazy, don't worry!"

They all seemed completely ready to do what he says. I wished I knew whether that meant he really knew what he was doing or whether they were just desperate for direction. All I knew was that if we were going to lose he didn't seem to acknowledge it.

Ahead were two men firing into a room. They both crumbled to the ground right before my eyes. An NCR soldier rolled out of cover and was primed to fire. Time slowed and I could see his shot lining up right at my chest before a he took a round to the shoulder sending the shot just above my head.

He rolled on the floor in pain only stopping once Bills footsteps gave away the fact that he was nearing him. In a scramble he crawled to his rifle but wasn't fast enough and received the full force of Bill's boot on his ankle. A sickening crunch drowned out by his scream were what followed.

"Do the honors." Bill gestured to the man like he was a present.

"What?"

"Shoot him. I'd like to be able to tell the boys that I saw you shoot one of these boot lickers after we're done."

The look he gave my stuttering hesitance was nothing short of contemptuous. He was not going to take the time to give me a pep talk or explain himself this time. He rolled his eyes, unsheathed his blade and stabbed the man in the left lung. Then the right lung, "I don't have time for this bullshit, Wyatt." He explained while the soldier gurgled on his own blood beneath him, "I'm going to go finish this raid. You can leave the fucker to choke nice and slow or put him out of his misery. Either way you're not getting out of this."

Staring at the man was hard since he was staring right back at me. No words came out as he sputtered and gasped so I couldn't tell if he was begging me to help him or kill him. I knew exactly what I had to do. If not for the moral reasons then because Bill would probably kick my ass if I didn't. Raising the weapon was unreasonably hard to do.

It's not like I haven't done this before.

I pulled back the hammer.

He said it gets easier.

I looked away. Then I looked right at him. I had to see myself do it. This was a descion I was making this time. I had to own it.

Does that make it better or worse?

I shot him head. That damn dizzying feeling came back for just a moment and it passed as fast as it came. A pair of hands hoisted me and dragged me away, "Not bad kiddo! I told ya you could get used to this." I didn't reply the whole walk over to wherever his plan B was.

"While you were having yourself a little nappy time earlier I got news of three of our boys being found dead. Plus two missing. The stiffs were all found near the V&V. Some chick and her robot they said. I didn't like the sound of it, not one bit." He didn't break his stride as he went towards the doors to a series of collapsed suites opened into each other. Place was too fucked to do anything with so we left it alone.

He was looking at me clearly wanting for someone form of indulgence so I went along, "What are you talking about Bill?"

"I had a feeling we were going to get some trouble real soon. So I took some precautions…" He had this sly grin beaming with confidence as he stuck the key into the lock, "William 'Wild Bill' Ruskin's secrets to success, chapter one, lesson one…" With a dramatic swing he opened the doors, "God helps those who help themselves, Wyatt." The room was filled to the brim with people bound in ropes and mouths taped over. All on their knees, some seemed to have beaten into submission, others were untouched, "Had to put a few down but the rest were like duck in a row."

It was… I was… I didn't know what to say. I never in a million years thought I would be party to something like this, "Are you going to kill them?" I asked, mouth agape. He only shrugged.

"That's up to the NCR." He pulled out his hand-cannon, "Alright folks, you've been well behaved and I appreciate it. Keep up the good faith we've got between us. Will the leader of you kindly rise?" An old man dressed a decent suit rose about as slow as he could, can't blame him, "Thanks, come here. I won't hurt you."

So he did. Bill didn't lie and only took the tape off his mouth, gently even. I was so fucking confused, "What do you want from us?"

Bill placed his large, violent ridden hands on the man's shoulder. The size difference was nearly comical. Bill isn't a brute but he is a large man. A very muscular and hard man. He looked like he could snap that man like a twig, "I want to use you as a bargaining chip. If you're good for that than I'll let you free. If you're not I am going to be forced to kill the lot of you." He sounded apologetic in a way. Not very much so, just like he was apologizing for breaking their radio, "Either way, you'll have the NCR to blame."

"Don't give me that you damned liar…"

"Sir, I apologize for what I am being forced to do. But you did technically fail to honour our deal. That means what I am doing is in no way me being a liar." He then swiftly drug him out by his shirt, "Let's go Wyatt. You should see how it's done." I sorrowfully looked back at the captives. Would saving my own skin excuse this? Would it matter?

We were back at the the overlook, "Boys, go head to the holding area and keep your guns on them." The soldier stopped firing for a moment after watching the Powder Gangers run away for seemingly no reason. Bill popped over the cover with the old man and his gun pressed firmly into the back of his skull, "I'd like to speak to the chief.."

* * *

Hayes

* * *

For a moment I almost fired regardless of what he just said. But this was Wild Bill and no matter what the scenario was I knew to not take any threat he made, spoken or otherwise, lightly. I gave my men the order to stand down and had them radio the command in, "What do want William?"

"I'd like for you to stop kicking dirt all over my house to start."

"If you don't get to the point you're going to be seeing a lot more than dirt very shortly."

"Careful mister, I'm jumpy these days. Might have a slip of the finger. Anyhow, I'd like to claer up what appears to be a great misunderstanding. You probably assume that we came in here, guns ablazing and took over, right?"

"Yes, that is most likely what happened."

"Wrong, We stumbled upon this place weary and tired from out escape from slavery we came to this town. And this town's lawmen fired at us the moment they say our colors. We defend ourselves, when all was said and done we found ourselves the only force left. We took responsibility for what we fell into. We let people stay around so long as they submitted to a mandatory interview so that we might be able to evaluate their intentions. We let them stay at the casino so long as they followed a few simple conditions. They had objections and instead of taking them up with me they what do they do? They organized a little revolution and after we crushed it we got more harsh. What did we do that you haven't?"

"I didn't come here to listen to your excuses William!"

"Of course you're not! You're here to take over other our home!"

"You aren't even being a little bit ironic are you?" The delusion of this man was astounding. It was a shame so many people bought into his crap as to form a gang this large, "I'm not here to listen to your excuses or to play games. What do you want?"

"Simple, I want you out. Out of my town, out of the area and to leave us to our own devices." I opened my mouth to tell him how stupid he really way but I was cut off, "Before you say no. I want to make it clear that I'll only make this offer once and after that it'll get worse. Much worse." I knew of his reputation. I knew it well in fact and I knew he wasn't to be brushed off. I knew that despite his nature he wouldn't have given us the option to run if he could have just killed us all.

"Not happening William. Surrender or it will get worse, for you."

He simply smirked and whistled, "Darrell! Bring out the old lady!" Then we waited with our rifles trained on him. Couldn't fire, no good angle that wouldn't have hit the old man. He's done this before. The old man was held out infront of him at an arm's length. I hate waiting and he seemed to draw it out. What was he doing?

A Powder Ganger dragged an old black woman out and tossed her to the blonde kid. He looked like he was holding a bomb before Bill threw the old man infront of him. The old lady was infront of him now and he ripped her tape of her mouth, "Lady, tell them what your name is."

She was sobbing, "Ruby, Ruby Nash."

He gave her this apologetic look. At least I think it was, hard to tell from our position, "They could have saved you… I want that to be clear. And I also would like to say, I'm sorry…" He shot her point blank without giving her time to even process what he said and swiftly grabbed the old man, "Every Time you don't give into my demands I will kill another hostage! And everytime I have to I will add more conditions! I can keep that little shtick up for a real, real long time. Tell them Wyatt."

"Y-yes! A lot o-of… Yes." Where have I seen that kid before?

"You fire, you move, you even look like you're going to try something! And I'll have my guys toss some molotovs into their room and roast them alive! Up to you chief!" His lacky went go get another hostage while he cocked his revolver.

"Stop! If we leave will you let them go?"

He smirked, "I promise!"

"Give me, your word William! Your word!"

"I promise on everything I have ever held dear that I will not harm a single hair on their heads if surrender right now. Nor will I hurt your men. They will not be harmed. You know my reputation so you know I'm a man of my word."

I came to this stupid goddamn desert to help people. I didn't care if it meant I got discharged. I didn't care if I was a laughing stock. The only reason we came to this town was to help the civies. I was not going to let them all get slaughtered when I could have manned up and saved them. Wasn't even a choice, "Fine! Throw your arms down everyone. Radio in the order." Hell, maybe this will go a ways toward making the natives trust us. Trust the Republic. Probably not.

"But sir…" Private Driver muttered.

"Now dammit!" They complied with nary another breath, "There you go William! Let them go!"

"Very well. Don't move, chief. I would like to, look you in the eye." Him and his kid friend slowly and quite proudly made their stay down to the lobby. When left our line of sight the Powder Ganger marched all the men that made it the main stairwell at into the lobby, at gunpoint of course.

Once he got there he clapped the whole way until we were face to face, "You're a brave man." He bent to see my dog tag, "Hayes, Lt. Hayes. I have a lot of respect for you. Not many NCR men would have sacrificed their own dignity for the sake of others. Know why?" I was silent, "Because they aren't real men. You however, are of a different stripe."

"Just say what you have to say so we can go."

"I plan to." He turned to his blonde friend. He was of average height which put him a good foot shorter than Bill and while in an all-around athletic build he was noticeably less muscular as well. He was young, 18 at the most. And he looked so familiar.

"Y-yes, Bill?"

"You see what I've done? I've won. It's not all about being quick on the gun. Though that does help. Take notes, this'll save your life one-day."

"William! I'm waiting."

"Right sorry. Remember when I said it'll get worse every time you killed a hostage? I don't break my word. So with that in mind... You'll die." I could only roll my eyes. I wasn't surprised in the least, I knew this wasn't over, "To send a message and all. I still intend to let everyone else go. I can't afford you the same courtesy. You unde-"

"Quit being so fucking dramatic and shoot me." I demanded with a monotone voice.

"E-excuse me?" He was visibly shocked.

"Brevity is the soul of wit and you're not impressing me. Now shoot me. So I can stop hearing you drole over your own bullshit speeches."

He shook the shock away and put on a stern look, "As you wish." He drew his gun lined it up so that he could peak over into my eyes.

Despite what I said. I couldn't help but indulge in some theatrics myself. I turned around I smirked and I saluted my men. One thing crossed my mind.

The needs of the many outwe-


End file.
